Air
Talkie Walkie
Source

This record could be taken as either intensely irritating or really chilled out, The first two tracks are perfect examples of this: ‘Venus’ and ‘Cherry Blossom Girl (the first single off of the album) revolve around one simple idea which never changes track and has a few bleeps and buzzes added here and there. It’s a theme that runs throughout the whole album and the repetition can get a bit much sometimes. Some tunes are just strange like ‘Run’ which half sounds like it belongs in a House of Horrors ride and half on an Enya CD.

‘Talkie Walkie’ feels like an experimental album, like Air are playing around with ideas. Track 5, ‘Mike Mills’ definitely gives that feeling as it’s loose and doesn’t have much of a focus but it’s more the way random notes and sounds appear in songs, It’s classic Air in that it’s floaty and spacey. There are some lovely moments on here, however, it’s not all bad. ‘Biological’ has a lovely, simple, lilting piano riff which is accompianied by a few other instruments as does ‘Mike Mills’ even if it does have that annoying pseudo-classical organ on it. The overriding emotion is that this is a strange album and those who like bands like Boards of Canada will probably like it.

Natasha Perry