AREA 10 - Air mp3 album

While the sleeve notes categorise Air by Area 10 as ‘ambient; chill’, this album is a lot more than just the kind of smooth wallpaper those words might suggest. It is a blend of delicious mellow moods and sonic experiences with something rather more primal pulsing just beneath the surface. Throughout the whole album, there are tantalising juxtapositions of very ethereal, almost feminine melodic structures, swelling and cascading through your senses, but with an undergirding of some deeply masculine rhythmic and percussive layers. This subtle tension lifts the whole experience several rungs above contemporary ‘chill-out’ electronica, and leaves you in no doubt that you’re not listening to some benign musical salve, but engaging something of much deeper substance.There is a craft and maturity behind this music, with layers in every track that lock together like crossed fingers, filling every space with constantly moving, flowing, evolving sound. The influences of the Café del Mar vibe are clear, but there are also echoes of Moby, Pink Floyd, Goldfrapp and others in several places - not as pastiche but as homage.And evidencing its status above the norm, there are some memorable signatures too – like the irresistible melodic hook in ‘Natural Awe’, the slow, insistent backbeat to ‘In Your Mind’, and the xylophone-esque jazziness of ‘Come the Day’.There is a clear sense that there are other urges within the music too, bursting to get out - like the momentary twitch of a rock guitarist in ‘Out of the Blue’, or the rippling fingers of a jazz pianist in ‘Chinese Whisper’. They rise and peak for a while, then the music moves seamlessly on to a different plane altogether, with that half-imagined promise still tingling in your senses. While this is the kind of music that will never jar or shock, it will also never abandon you to the obvious. It will ease you and delight you, yet keep you guessing – and keep you listening.Reviewd by Mike Bastin