Talkie Walkie

Disc 1
1	Venus 4:05
2	Cherry Blossom Girl 3:39
3	Run 4:13
4	Universal Traveler 4:22
5	Mike Mills 4:27
6	Surfing on a Rocket 3:43
7	Another Day 3:21
8	Alpha Beta Gaga 4:40
9	Biological 6:04
10	Alone in Kyoto 4:53
Disc 2
1	Electronic Performers Live / DVD / Multimedia Track
2	Talisman Live / DVD / Multimedia Track
3	Don't Be Light Live / DVD / Multimedia Track
4	People in the City Live / DVD / Multimedia Track
5	La Femme d'Argent Live / DVD / Multimedia Track

Barnes & Noble

The French are a contrary lot. And Air haven't exactly made it easy on fans as of late. The Prozac melodies of their classic debut, Moon Safari, yielded to the hangover hell of 10,000 Hz Legend and a well-intentioned but impenetrable score to an audio book in Italian. The good news is that, with Talkie Walkie, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel aren't mad at us anymore. Without rehashing the billowy tunes of their debut, the pair deliver the direct melodies, retro textures, and precision arrangements that earned them so many fans in the first place. The challenge, of course, is that Moon Safari was sui generis, sounding like nothing around at the time, while nowadays, the album's influence is everywhere, from Zero 7 to Daft Punk. Fortunately, the duo seem to have realized that they need not try so hard to deliver for fans. There are some more advanced arrangements -- "Surfing on a Rocket" is propelled by an intricate web of guitars and whispered vocals. And the more abrasive textures and desultory moods of 10,000 Hz crop up as well, notably on the gloomy "Another Day," which views the implacable march of time with Gallic pitilessness. "Alpha Beta Gaga" begins with some angry oscillating keyboards before settling into a sunny groove replete with Andy Griffith Show whistling and even a banjo. Perhaps the finest of these musical bonbons is the track Air wrote for the Sofia Coppola film Lost in Translation: "Alone in Kyoto" is a breathy mix of voices and guitars that puts Air's gifts for expressing ennui and emptiness in their most flattering light. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Artistic development doesn't always improve an artist's work, as the members of Air discovered when their second album, 2001's 10,000 Hz Legend, disappointed fans and critics expecting another pop masterpiece to rank with their debut, Moon Safari. 10,000 Hz Legend buried the duo's clear melodic sense underneath an avalanche of rigid performances, claustrophobic productions, and a restless experimentalism that rarely allowed listeners to enjoy what they were hearing. Gone was the freshness evident on Moon Safari: the alien made familiar, the concept that electronic dance could be turned into a user-friendly medium, the illustration of simplicity and space as assets, not liabilities. Fortunately, Air learned from their mistakes -- or, at least, their limitations -- leading up to the recording of third album Talkie Walkie, and the happy result is a solid middle ground between both of their previous records. The features are kept to a minimum and the tracks are constructed to sound no more complex than they need to be, even though Air risk the assumption that Talkie Walkie is a simple album. While there's nothing present to compete with the plodding glory of "Sexy Boy," Talkie Walkie ultimately succeeds because of Dunckel and Godin's renewed contentment to produce the tracks they do better than any other -- ones with a surface prettiness but no great depth. (It's no mystery why they've been tapped for several scores.) Ironically, the one track here that shrugs off the simplicity of electronic pop is a track first heard in a film, "Alone in Kyoto," an impressionistic string piece originally composed for the Sofia Coppola film Lost in Translation. John Bush

Rolling Stone

1/2 On their excellent Talkie Walkie, Air return to what they do best: elegantly moody soundtrack music for imaginary films. Rob Sheffield

Entertainment Weekly

The dreamy space pop will have you floating in the clouds, if not above them. (A-) Michael Endelman

Tracks

This is deliciously fluffy make-out music that laughs with you, not at you. Pat Blashill