One record at a time: 4. Air - Music for Museum

This is an odd record. Back in 2014 I was idly flicking through the Vinyl Factory website and came across, what I assumed to be, the new album by AIR. I realised this was a limited pressing of 1000 copies, but supposed it was being made available alongside the wider release (much like Massive Attack did with "Heligoland"). As it transpired, this is the soundtrack to an open museum project and the clear vinyl pressing is the ONLY version of this album to be made available. Unsurprisingly it has become a collectors item. 

However, for some reason I have never played this record. I always meant to digitise it, but never got round to it. So this is the first time I have heard this music despite owning it for seven years. 

As soon as you pick this record up you can tell it is a high quality pressing. There are sumptuous picture inner sleeves and inside the gate-fold there is a poster. The first side has 2 tracks "Land Me" and "Reverse Bubble" which roll along pleasingly enough as I type this. "The Dream of Yi" develops a drone that began to drive me insane and for the first time in these reviews, I had to skip a bit of the music. "Angel Palace" is calming but is overly long as a piece to sit and listen to. 

That is the trouble here: this music is being taken out of context. As background music for a museum, I can see it working very well. As a listening experience it isn't very engaging. Things get a bit more lively with "Art Tattoo" but it is nothing more than 15 minutes of an arpeggiator running the same patch. "Kiss Volcano" is a short burst of noise that left me a bit bemused. "Integration Desintegration" is more of a return to ambient soundscape concept but with a horn playing a melody. "Octogum" is a more overtly 'electronic' sounding piece that reminded me of Jean Michel Jarre with its phased strings. "North Cloud" rounds things off. 

In summary, I'd say this record would make great background music for a museum, but as an isolated listening experience, it isn't to my taste. I don't feel like I have missed out in not playing this record. In fact, if someone came along and offered me £200, I would probably let it go. 1/5