AIR | Studio Symmetry

Nov 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Sam Pryor

           
 

RECORDING IN THEIR BRAND-NEW STUDIO, AIR FINDS NEW LEVELS OF CREATIVITY WHILE DEFTLY BLENDING ELECTRONIC AND ORGANIC TEXTURES

Dunckel and Godin's workspace at Atlas Studios

Photo: Pablo Arroyo

How do you work out the contrast between experimental songs like “Night Hunter” with simpler pop songs like “Sing Sang Sung”?

Godin: That's alchemy. I love as much Led Zeppelin as [I love] easy listening. I love The Carpenters. There is spot in The Pink Panther where Claudine Longet sings a song; we love that. But we also love Queens of the Stone Age. We like all these influences on our albums.

What advice can you give to musicians who seek to emulate your sound but who also want to find their own style?

Godin: It is impossible to imitate us because we work on the edge, on a thin line. If you don't work on that thin line, you can do something very horrible. If you go more left or more right — it's very edgy what we do. The same tools in the wrong hands could be a disaster!

Dunckel: We are only searching for emotion. It's not a combination of instruments and sounds together. Writing AIR music is really important. The songs, the writing, the words. Even if they sound simple and simplistic.

Godin: We suffer a lot when we buy new records because the songwriting is not very good. We are very happy with MGMT and these new bands in Brooklyn like Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors. For the first time in a long time, a band like MGMT is here, a new cool thing has hit the charts. They have good songwriting. So for a new band, I would say learn how to write a good song.

(For a video interview with Dunckel and Godin, and more information about the band's recording process, visit emusician.com/videos/interviews/talking_with_air/