You just did four ‘Moon Safari’ shows in Paris, right? How did that go?
Air: It was amazing. Honestly, it’s magic. I feel that when I go on stage, it’s still there.
Vegyn: You’re enjoying it now?
Air: Yeah! I used to have imposter syndrome for a long time, so it was very difficult for me to go on stage because I didn’t feel legit. Our style comes from all of our weaknesses. I felt like deep down, we weren’t that good, but we did this whole great album that hid that fact. We’re more magicians than musicians.
That’s interesting, I’ve heard a lot of artists say they struggle with imposter syndrome. You’ve even spoken about it before, right Vegyn?
Vegyn: Oh, yeah. I’m a phony actor! I feel that every day. The thing with getting older, for me, it’s been about realigning and trying to pay attention to the things you actually wanna be doing rather than the things that you think you should be doing, like making music or helping other people to do that. Touring is great, but I can’t enjoy it at this point.
What about it do you not enjoy? Is it being on stage?
Vegyn: I have that impostor syndrome. I think I would rather, at this point, be making more music. That feels like what I’m best at, and it’s what I’m meant to be doing.
You’ve worked on your fair share of remixes and productions over the years, especially with some of Air’s French peers like SebastiAn and Phoenix. What was different about working on this record?
Vegyn: I grew up listening to a lot of French electronic music in general, it’s a real kind of escapism for me. My dad makes music and is in the industry, but he had very little understanding for this kind of music. It was my way of rebelling or escaping, and I just always appreciated the sensibilities. I don’t know what it is in the water over there, but everyone’s very cool. Whether that’s the Ed Banger stuff or the artists who came out of the Versailles scene or whatever. Approaching this project was very different. When I just remix one song, I’ll make it as outrageous as possible. But with this, with a whole album, I had to think about it in a more linear way, and how it was all going to fit together. Making it in that short space of time built the cohesion through it as well.
You said you did it chronologically initially, and then changed the order later, why was that?
Air: People don’t really listen to full albums anymore. Also, if you change the track order, it feels like a new album. If you take the B-side of ‘Abbey Road’ for example and change the order, like you would when we had CD players and put it on random, it feels like you’ve discovered a new album, even if you know the tracklist by heart. So in this process of reinventing, I thought it would be interesting to have a different track order, which would also avoid people comparing both albums.
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Are you both working on new projects after this? What’s next for each of you?
Air: Personally, I tried to make some music on my own. I had this whole album finished, and then we decided to go on tour so it stopped everything, but that will hopefully be released in 2026 – 2027. I enjoy listening to classical music. I go to a lot of symphony concerts, but as a pop musician, I don’t see any way for me to do classical music without being a fraud.
Vegyn: No? I’m sure you could.
Air: There’s no way! [Laughs]. It’s too highbrow. I go every week to see concerts, and I hear all the clusters of sounds and all the timbres. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is amazing’. It’s like a new world for me, but I’m more of an observer than a creator.
What about you, Vegyn? Anything coming up?
Vegyn: Lots of fun things! I want them to be a surprise.
Air: I like that. When I look back at my career, the best memories are the fun times we had making records, not even the records themselves. It’s just the process, you know?
Vegyn: Yeah, that’s why touring isn’t for me at the moment. It’s so miserable and drawn out, although it’s obviously amazing to see people having fun. I wanna be able to give that experience to people, but I have a lot more fun in the studio for prolonged periods of time. This year, I’m trying to put out maybe four albums, so there’s lots of new music.
Air: You can really hear it when you’re having fun in the studio. It’s difficult when you have a career and you suddenly start making records because it’s your job.
Vegyn: Yeah. If you wanna make money, do something else!
Air: I think we were the last generation to make money from music. Now, there’s no more middle class in music, there’s the rich and poor, and there’s nothing in the middle. When we started Air, you could live as a non-commercial artist selling records. If someone wanted to listen to one track, they had to buy the recording. It’s a different world now.
Vegyn: Music is so influenced by technology. The means of distributing vinyl records or CDs, it has to adapt so often. I think in some ways, it is harder to generate revenue, but there are a lot more opportunities to be able to do that completely independently. That definitely wasn’t the case in the past. In those years, you had to have the backing of a label or distribution company. Now, for better or worse, it’s anyone’s game – you just have to wear a lot of different hats. It’s all a big process that everyone’s trying to figure out, and I’m sure some new technology will come along one day and spoil it forever. We’ve just gotta adapt!
‘Blue Moon Safari’ is out now. Buy it here.
Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
