Air The Virgin Suicides: Original Motion Picture Score on 180g LP + Download
Released in 2000, The Virgin Suicides was director Sofia Coppola's first feature film, Kirsten Dunst's first major screen role, and Air's first foray into film scoring. 15 years after its initial release, Warner/Parlophone will issue The Virgin Suicides: Deluxe Edition box set and a remastered 180g vinyl version of the original soundtrack. On the same day, Warner/Parlophone will also release Air's five album discography on 180-gram vinyl with original artwork, including their first EP Premiers Symptômes (1997), Moon Safari (1998), 10,000 Hz Legend (2001), Talkie Walkie (2004) and Pocket Symphony (2007).
The Versailles duo - Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin - started to record new music by watching VHS tapes of the film during the autumn of 1998. Eerie, synthetic and tempestuous, The Virgin Suicides soundtrack's first single "Playground Love" featured Gordon Tracks (an alias of Thomas Mars, the lead singer for the band Phoenix). The recording process was finished when drummer and soundtrack supervisor Brian Retzell called the duo from Los Angeles. "The microphones and the amps were packed and we needed a song for the ending credits! It happened on a Saturday afternoon. We called Thomas Mars from Phoenix. He wrote the lyrics, played some drums and sang on 'Playground Love,'" remembers Dunckel.
The Virgin Suicides premiere took place at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1999. Much to the duo's surprise, Air's soundtrack had been heavily edited and 80% of the recorded tracks had been abandoned in the final cut of the film. Godin comments, "You can do everything with editing. That was the first big lesson. The film turned out lighter and more evanescent. I felt that we didn't get what Sofia wanted." Despite these regrets, The Virgin Suicides soon became a cult soundtrack and, most of all, one of the most celebrated albums in the electronic performers' fascinating discography.
Air The Virgin Suicides - Original Motion Picture Score Track Listing:
1. Playground Love (With Gordon Tracks)
2. Clouds Up
3. Bathroom Girl
4. Cemetary Party
5. Dark Messages
6. The Word Hurricane
7. Dirty Trip
8. Highschool Lover
9. Afternoon Sister
10. Ghost Song
11. Empty House
12. Dead Bodies
13. Suicide Underground