Pocket Symphony is the fourth studio album by French electronic music duo Air, released on 5 March 2007 by Virgin Records. It features collaborations with Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon. Pocket Symphony incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin had recently learned to play from an Okinawan master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that "conventional instruments continue to play a great role" in the duo's music. The album features art by Xavier Veilhan.
Pocket Symphony debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard 200, with 17,000 copies sold in its first week. As of February 2012, it had sold 77,000 copies in the United States.
The term "pocket symphony" was popularised by English journalist Derek Taylor, who used it to describe the Beach Boys' 1966 single "Good Vibrations".
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Pocket Symphony.
Air
Nicolas Godin – bass ; solina ; guitars ; synth bass ; drum machine ; shamisen ; piano ; koto ; synthesizers ; vocals ; glockenspiel ; tambourine ; drums ; Memorymoog ; wind chimes JB Dunckel – piano ; synthesizers ; vibraphone ; vocals ; glockenspiel ; samples ; ARP percussions, xylophone ; voice pad ; drum machine ; Rhodes ; synth bass
Additional musicians
Joey Waronker – drums, percussion
Magic Malik – flute
Tony Allen – drums
Jarvis Cocker – vocals
Neil Hannon – vocals
Joby Talbot – string arrangements, string conducting
David Richard Campbell – string arrangements
Technical
Nigel Godrich – production, engineering
Air – production
Darrell Thorp – engineering
Florian Lagatta – engineering
Simon Hayes – engineering assistance
Andrew Rugg – engineering assistance
Bob Ludwig – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine)
