Darkel - At The End Of The Sky

Ephemeral, blissed out pop from one half of Air. Whiffs of Serge Gainsbourg instrumentation and delicate orchestral touches can't conceal the fact that this is massively dull. Air's original blueprint of spaced-out electro and spliff-hop with a camp Gallic edge was at least interesting and different - they brought a certain glamour to the otherwise bland 'chill-out' genre with their knowing winks and flared trousers. Darkel may wish to leave the listener "swimming in a liquid of sound" (sic) but if this bland, sixties-fixated slice of frippery were indeed a liquid, it would be ditchwater. Jean-Benoit should put away the pretentions of meaning and dig out his vocoder again. [Bram Gieben]