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Mar 13, 2018 Web Exclusive By Lily Moayeri

The individual members of the French duo Air make good use of their time in between albums. Jean-Benoît “JB” Dunckel, in particular, has spread his talents extensively including the collaborative albums Tomorrow’s World and Starwalker as well as scoring a few soundtracks. H+ is his second solo album under his own name, following his solo debut, Darkel, over a decade after the fact.

No matter how much time passes, however, there is a certain twinkling, chiming quality that is present in all Air’s music, which is present on Dunckel’s work as well. H+ enhances this with Dunckel’s vocals—very familiar to Air fans—which appear on almost every track, effected and ethereal, accented and charming. Pianos drive H+ giving a grounded quality to what is mainly synthesizer-based material. They propel “The Garden” forward, making the whimsical, dreamy nature of that song even more pretty. In contrast, “Qwartz” is all swirling instrumentation and moves all the more strongly for it.

As pleasant of an experience as H+ is, it is a little too similar sounding all the way through. Attention starts wandering a little over halfway, at the bleeping “Space Age” and continues to drift on the spacey instrumental “Ballad Non Sense,” neither of which bring anything new to the overall H+ experience. The lively “Carpet Bombing” and spirited “Kill for You” shake up the energy again as the album draws to a close. Until the next Air album proper, Dunckel fills the void nicely. (www.jbdunckel.com)

Author rating: 6/10