Air are a French electronic band formed by Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoît Dunckel in 1995. Their name comes from the initials of "amour", "imagination" and "rêve" -- French for "love", "imagination" and "dream" -- which is reflected in the soft textures of their music. The atmospheric nature of their music has been in great demand from other sectors, including advertising for cars and jeans, video game soundtracks, and TV programmes including CSI:NY and The O.C.
Godin and Dunckel were originally in Orange with Alex Gopher and Xavier Jamaux, who have all gone on to produce music and provide remixes for the band.
A debut EP, Premiers Symptômes, was mostly ignored, but Air achieved success with their first full-length album, 1998's Moon Safari, which made it to the Top 10 in UK and was praised by critics. Air's success seemed to inspire many other bands and led to the emergence of a handful of other chill-out artists. Subsequent releases built on the popularity of Moon Safari, with both the soundtrack album The Virgin Suicides (2000) and 10 000Hz Legend (2001) charting in the US. Talkie Walkie (2004) was another popular record, but Air's momentum appeared to have slowed with the release of Pocket Symphony (2007).
As producers, the band have provided remixes for artists including Neneh Cherry, Depeche Mode, and David Bowie.
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