On October 3rd, 2020, dublab celebrated 21 years of community powered radio with a 24 hour online event, featuring DJ sets and live performances. Nicolas Godin (Air) prepared a special DJ set.

ABOUT NICOLAS GODIN:
When Air’s Nicolas Godin released his debut solo album, Contrepoint (2015), he channelled the influence of Bach into a rich, resonant and hugely rewarding spread of musical explorations. One soundtrack (A Very Secret Service) later, Godin builds on equally fertile conceptual foundations for the follow-up. Released through Because Music on 24th January, Concrete and Glass is an exquisitely crafted set of variations on architectural reference points: mounted with minimalist precision and delivered with an abundance of pop warmth, it finds Godin in his element, working seductive wonders with poise and style to spare. For Godin, the album circles back to his formative work as half of ground-breaking French electronic group Air. Revered modern architect Le Corbusier was an influence on the young architecture graduate’s music, notably on his 1997 debut “Modular Mix”. Twenty-plus years later, Le Corbusier featured on a list of modernist architects Godin was invited to compose tributes for, tributes intended to be heard as the soundtrack to site-specific installations around the world.

In its soft ambient pulse and melting minimalism, lead track “The Border” is a perfect entry-point to Godin’s hymns to buildings, arranged and co-produced with Pierre Rousseau. Its levitating synths, vocoder vocals and scudding bass hove into view with understated elegance, all the better to accommodate the discreet slow-build of delicate details within. As with Air, Godin makes gorgeously light work of every angle: this is music that seems entirely unperturbed by gravity, occupying an elevated atmosphere of its own. Elsewhere, the title-track’s clean synth lines, crisply apportioned arrangements and tender timpani offer another inviting entry-point, sculpted with architectural clarity. While Godin’s vocoder vocals also hark back to Air’s early work, the album accommodates a diverse spread of guest vocalists elsewhere. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor guests on the falsetto-soul dream-pop of “Catch Yourself Falling”, one of Godin’s sweetest melodies yet. Oxnard singer/activist Cola Boyy brings soul to the righteously engaged “The Foundation”; the squelchy synths and buoyant grooves burn slow, allowing the stealthy arrangements and message room to resonate. Psychedelic soul singer Kadhja Bonet sings with measured serenity over tremulous synths on “We Forgot Love”, while Russian experi-pop artist Kate NV brings a gracefully aching romanticism to the blissful swoon-pop of “Back to Your Heart”.

Additionally, Australian conceptual provocateur Kirin J Callinan contributes a vocal of restrained drama to “Time on My Hands”, a midnight-drift soft-pop ballad with a silky allure. One of the quickest tracks to record for the album, it emerged in collaborations between Los Angeles (”During some lively sessions in Mac DeMarco’s studio,” notes Godin) and Paris. After he missed his flight home, Callinan stayed in France for a day as the guitar solos were recorded, complementing the song's air of sleek luxuriousness. Between its title-track and the sultry, smoky jazz stylings of closer “Cité Radieuse”, Concrete and Glass is an album that truly travels, in tune with its global pitch. For Godin, it marks another milestone in a musical journey that began when Air’s 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, became the sublimely weightless soundtrack of its time. For Concrete and Glass, Godin builds on his storied past with tremendous finesse, charm and fluency, opening fresh windows of perspective at every lovingly executed turn.

“Concrete and Glass” as told by Nicolas Godin:
In 1995, I’d just finished university where I’d studied architecture, and was recording a track in my home studio in Paris as a sort of tribute to the much admired and world-renowned architect, Le Corbusier. This first single was called Modular Mix and would go on to be released a few months later under the band name AIR. A second track soon followed, and then an album, and then 10 more up until this present day. 20 years later, and considering the particular circumstances about how my discography first came about, I was rather intrigued when artist Xavier Veilhan presented me with a list of the following names: “Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Mies van der Rohe, Claude Parent, Constantin Melnikov, Pierre Koenig and… Le Corbusier.” To sum it up, Xavier explained to me how he intended to create pieces in tribute to each of these architects, and then display them in situ alongside some of their most iconic buildings across the world. When he asked me to join him on this adventure, I suggested the idea of creating a theme for each house, putting some of his planned exhibitions to music as a sort of soundtrack or a performance. And so that was the starting point for the album Concrete and Glass.

First, each building’s DNA provided a wealth of information that could be transcribed into music: from the location or surrounding landscape where the house or structure is built, the materials used such as concrete or glass, or the building’s iconic role in history and popular culture, and so on… For example, for the Cité Radieuse song, I took Le Corbusier’s split-level unité d’habitation in Marseille and interpreted musically its Tetris-like form. The floors slot together, one on top of the other, before breaking free with the rooftop terrace and its view over the Mediterranean. Portraying such images through music is not that dissimilar from composing a film soundtrack….

So that was the first step…. Each of the exhibitions took place and so the adventure came to an end for now. But when I returned to Paris, I soon realised that I wanted to take the experience further, because slowly but surely, I felt this idea coming to life. The idea of transforming each composition into a song and putting them together on an album, which would go on to become Concrete and Glass. The original concept had now evolved, and so I started to look for the ideal singers who could bring each chosen track to life. I reached out to the following musicians and singers: Kate NV, Kadhja Bonet, Kirin J Callinan, Cola Boyy and Alexis Taylor. After listening to the tracks, each then added their own touch and brought something personal to them. Their help was invaluable. And from my point of view, I took enormous pleasure in getting out my vocoder for four of the tracks. As for the arrangements and production, I entrusted Pierre Rousseau along with the following instructions: “The last album [Contrepoint] had a very live sound to it, but for this one, I only want to hear right angles and parallel lines like those found in the houses which inspired these songs.”

And so, this has been a spirited long-distance journey which started out on Los Angeles’ hills, before crossing the suburbs of Moscow via Barcelona and the south of France. These 10 songs are the fruit of this adventure and I hope you will enjoy listening to them as much we
enjoyed creating them.

Nicolas Godin
Paris, Spring 2019