Biography
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Nicolas Godin first gained recognition through his contributions to the groundbreaking electronic duo Air before carving out a distinctive path with his own releases. His individual projects explore an array of ideas, from reimagined Bach compositions on the 2015 album Contrepoint to tributes to modernist buildings on 2020’s Concrete and Glass. He further established himself in scoring by crafting a retro-leaning soundtrack for the French series A Very Secret Service.
Godin entered the world in Paris, France, on December 25, 1969. As a teenager he performed in rock groups and later experimented with soul and hip-hop textures. While enrolled in architecture studies at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles, he encountered mathematics student Jean-Benoît Dunckel, who would become his future collaborator. Before Air existed, the pair joined the alternative outfit Orange alongside budding house producer Étienne de Crécy.
Once Orange dissolved, Godin accepted an invitation from an old acquaintance to supply material for a Source label compilation. He delivered “Modulor Mix,” an homage to Le Corbusier assembled on an eight-track recorder with drum loops and selected vintage synthesizers and keyboards. The piece appeared on the 1995 anthology Source Lab, prompting Godin to enlist Dunckel in expanding his sonic experiments and thereby launching Air. The pair’s fusion of symphonic pop, cinematic scoring, classic electronic sounds, and new wave yielded the immediate classic Moon Safari in 1998, followed by the exploratory 10,000 Hz Legend in 2001 and the richly textured Talkie Walkie in 2004. They also applied their approach to cinema with scores for The Virgin Suicides and Le Voyage Dans la Lune, the latter arriving in 2012 before Air entered a period of inactivity. While Dunckel pursued outside projects, Godin focused on an album shaped by Glenn Gould’s readings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard works. Contrepoint, which wove in jazz, tropicalia, exotica, and left-field pop, surfaced first in September 2015 and received broader distribution the next year. During this stretch Godin additionally composed the music for A Very Secret Service, nodding to Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and other leading composers of the era. His follow-up solo effort, the polished Concrete and Glass released in 2020, revisited his architectural background and featured contributions from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Kadhja Bonet, and Kirin J. Callinan.
Godin entered the world in Paris, France, on December 25, 1969. As a teenager he performed in rock groups and later experimented with soul and hip-hop textures. While enrolled in architecture studies at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles, he encountered mathematics student Jean-Benoît Dunckel, who would become his future collaborator. Before Air existed, the pair joined the alternative outfit Orange alongside budding house producer Étienne de Crécy.
Once Orange dissolved, Godin accepted an invitation from an old acquaintance to supply material for a Source label compilation. He delivered “Modulor Mix,” an homage to Le Corbusier assembled on an eight-track recorder with drum loops and selected vintage synthesizers and keyboards. The piece appeared on the 1995 anthology Source Lab, prompting Godin to enlist Dunckel in expanding his sonic experiments and thereby launching Air. The pair’s fusion of symphonic pop, cinematic scoring, classic electronic sounds, and new wave yielded the immediate classic Moon Safari in 1998, followed by the exploratory 10,000 Hz Legend in 2001 and the richly textured Talkie Walkie in 2004. They also applied their approach to cinema with scores for The Virgin Suicides and Le Voyage Dans la Lune, the latter arriving in 2012 before Air entered a period of inactivity. While Dunckel pursued outside projects, Godin focused on an album shaped by Glenn Gould’s readings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard works. Contrepoint, which wove in jazz, tropicalia, exotica, and left-field pop, surfaced first in September 2015 and received broader distribution the next year. During this stretch Godin additionally composed the music for A Very Secret Service, nodding to Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and other leading composers of the era. His follow-up solo effort, the polished Concrete and Glass released in 2020, revisited his architectural background and featured contributions from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Kadhja Bonet, and Kirin J. Callinan.
Albums