Air

Be careful of what you wish for. Yearning to escape the stuffy confines of a by-the-hour studio, Versailles yacht-electronic duo Air crafted Love 2, their sixth LP, in their newly built studio. Recorded with mostly analogue instruments, Love 2 is the product of two musicians attempting to craft an intimate and delicate piece of work. Recording without a producer and devoid of guest vocalists, Love 2 replicates earlier works like Moon Safari and The Virgin Suicides on paper only. In its finest moments, the LP is blissfully off-kilter ("Do the Joy") and contains an indelible joie-de-vivre ("Be a Bee"). Unfortunately, the majority of these songs plainly rehashes worn ideas ("Missing the Light of Day") or simply lacks them ("Tropical Disease"). For a band with such a budding persona and with so much time and equipment at their disposal, Love 2 falls mostly flat, kind of like a second rate 10,000 Hz Legend.