This year’s Cannes Film Festival kicked off with a newly restored print of Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, featuring a score by the French music duo Air. Since that time, the band has expanded their score for the silent classic into a full album, which will be released by AstralWerks in February. Air’s previous forays into film music include the works of Sofia Coppola, having scored The Virgin Suicides and had songs in both Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette.
Georges Méliès, of course, is one of the early innovators of film and cinematic special effects. To view one of his wonderfully staged movies (comprised of static shots as if watching a theater piece), I’m reminded of illusionists at work in the act of wowing and the visions that come from the best sorts of dreams.
We’ve got a taste of Air’s score as well as a full track list for their album after the jump.
[Via CinemaBlend, IndieWire]
And here’s the track list we promised.
1. Astronomic Club
2. Seven Stars
3. Retour sur terre
4. Parade
5. Moon Fever
6. Sonic Armada
7. Who Am I Know?
8. Décollage
9. Cosmic Trip
10. Homme lune
11. Lava
Since this will turn out to be a Georges Méliès day, I figure I’d share one of my favorite Méliès-inspired things out there: the music video for “Tonight, Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins. It’s a beautiful homage to the magic of Méliès’s filmmaking, with the music complementing the old-timey whimsy and charm of the visuals. I’ll admit, this is one of those things that makes me a little misty every time I see it.
