Talkie Walkie is the fourth full-length album by Air, released on 27 January 2004.
Happily, Talkie Walkie reunites us with the Air that we love: two hopelessly indulgent romantics with an ear in the past and an eye on the future. It's meltingly good stuff - a collection of cool, cosmic pop songs that dispense with notions of time and space, wallowing instead on a cloud of poignant psychedelia.
With vocal duties this time taken by the boys themselves, and gorgeously fragile strings courtesy of Serge Gainsbourg collaborator, Michel Colombier, they get off to a good start. Perhaps the introduction of an outside producer, in this case Radiohead's Nigel Godrich, has forced such beautifully measured focus?
Whatever, touchy-feely epics such as the heavenly 'Cherry Blossom Girl' sit well next to electronic masterpieces such as 'Ran', whose enveloping tracked vocals recall the 10cc classic 'I'm Not In Love'.