The soundtrack to many a dinner party and, I dare say, conception, Air’s 1998 debut album owed much to an upbringing whereupon band members Nicolas Godin and Jean- Benoît gorged on a musical diet of Jean-Michel Jarre and Burt Bacharach. Yet the pair were no mere epigones. Influencing, as they continue to do, as many upcoming artists as they’ve borrowed from their idols.

This strictly limited-edition release comes in the form of a three-disc package. Whilst Disc 1 contains the original masterpiece, the 10-track second disc includes rarities, remixes (Beck, Moog Cookbook), and key cuts from radio sessions recorded during 1998 on both sides of the Atlantic. Disc 3, meanwhile, houses a DVD of the hour-long Mike Mills documentary Eating, Sleeping, Waiting and Playing – filmed in New York, London, and Paris over the course of Air’s first tour.

They were, play on words very much intended, a breath of fresh Air when they broke through with Moon Safari. 10 years on, their debut refuses to sound stale. With the combination of alluring female vocalists and ethereal instrumentation proving a difficult spell to break.

(5/5)