Air France – No Way Down EP

If your sick of the rain and you want some blessed out sun drenched Balearic dream pop Air France have just the right thing for you. No Way Down is a melting pot of ambient pop music that’s often instrumental and always beautiful in that summers day/evening haze kind of way. Its not dissimilar to the recent M83 album but with less epic shoegaze moments and more pop bliss. Parts of this EP remind me of Lemon Jelly, Studio and a mellow Cut Copy. Maybe the biggest influence I can pin point in their sound would have to be The Avalanches and their throw it all in the pot style of sample driven pop textures.

Air France throw in horns, strings, disco beats, bird sounds, and shimmers of all kinds or summer and tropical elements. Tropical seems to be the in thing right now with so many bands and groups displaying their technicolor dreams all over us like sticky pineapple juice. Disco seems to be a big influence and some of the songs have that happy piano, guitar sound that verges on the cheesy side but pulls it off in a way that doesn’t leave a sickly sweet taste in your mouth. It’s truly accessible and easy to listen to, you could put this record on at a family BBQ and everyone could enjoy it.

Every song here is a little beauty and thoroughly enjoyable I’m finding it hard to pick a stand out. Collapsing at Your Doorstep, which you can find via Pitchfork at the link bellow, is pretty indicative of the rest of the EP. Happy summer sounds, sampled female vocals talking about a dream and a mellow yet party vibe to it all. No Way Down the title track has some nice big beats that verge on hip-hop and sublime shimmers that I find quite irresistible. Windmill Wedding has a sad sounding piano motif that tugs at your heartstrings while a beautiful tropical soundscape appears around you, full of bird song and horses. Air France have made a little nugget of an EP with No Way Down, bring on the summer vibes…

Air France – Collapsing at Your Doorstep