French rock/electronica duo Air will release its next album, "Pocket Symphony," March 6 via Astralwerks. The 12-track set boasts vocals from Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, as well as group members J.B. Dunckel and Nicolas Godin. It was produced by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich.
Several tracks feature Asian classical instruments such as the Koto and the shamisen, which Godin learned from a Japanese master. "It’s another direction, for sure," Dunckel told Billboard.com in June. "It’s different, but it’s Air. We like to change all the time. If we don’t change our sound, we’ll be dead. People who like our music like to discover new things. They’re curious. They have some cultural musical background also, so they want to be surprised."
"Pocket Symphony" is the follow-up to 2004’s "Talkie Walkie," which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums chart and has sold 161,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Air will tour Europe beginning in mid-March and hit the states in early May. Festivals in Europe and Japan are on tap for the summer, followed by additional fall dates worldwide.
Source Billboard
