Air, 2001-2012

I purchased Air's Moon Safari album when I visited Madison, Wisconsin after my return from Japan.  I remember how well the whole album matched my mood and the mid-spring weather, relaxed and breezy. Blissed out, I was listening to it while walking along Lake Mendota and State Street.  To this day, Moon Safari is still one of my top 20 albums of all time.  Incidentally, one of my friends who I met in Madison that day told me a few years later that the album was his all time favorite.

I read the reviews of their following album, 10,000 Hz. Legend, which was out at that time, and they were not so good.  I concluded that Moon Safari must have been their one-shot wonder, so I didn't buy or listen to any more Air albums until we moved to Korea.  The album that makes me most nostalgic about my time in Korea is their Talkie Walkie album, which includes a track used in the film, Lost in Translation, which make me most nostalgic about my time in Japan.  However, I overplayed Talkie Walkie in Korea, so it's difficult still to listen to the album without associating it with my many walks through Seoul and using one of the tracks in a few of my classes.

Another album makes me nostalgic about my time in Russia.  I purchased their Pocket Symphony album just before our long round trip to Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, and Yoshkar-Ola from Samara.  I reserved my listening time to our visit in Moscow and it perfectly matched my night view of the city from our hotel.  So, almost every Air album delivers nostalgia about a different place for me.

Although I really enjoyed Pocket Symphony, my most intense period of listening to Air was in Korea.  So for the most part, Air in general reminds me of my Korean years.  Since Korea and Russia, Air has released two more albums, which, on the whole, have been disappointing.  I believe the best of Air is behind them.  They just released an album last month, and I wasn't impressed.  At this moment, I am skeptical about any future releases, and I probably won't get their new album unless the reviews are very good.