Revolvair, Paris, 2003: their voices, Godrich’s mix, no guest sleeve
In 2003, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel recorded Run at their own place, Revolvair studio in Paris, with engineer Yann Arnaud on the first passes. It became track three of Talkie Walkie, four minutes and twelve seconds, placed after Cherry Blossom Girl and before Universal Traveler. Source and Virgin released the album on 26 January 2004. After the crowded guest list of 10 000 Hz Legend, they played and sang this one themselves. That decision is what you hear first: two close voices, almost spoken, asking someone to stay.
Nigel Godrich joined for additional recording, production, and the mix at Ocean Way in Hollywood. Darrell Thorp assisted. Bob Ludwig mastered at Gateway. Michel Colombier arranged strings for the album, though Run stays closer to piano, soft drums, and those two voices than to a full orchestra. The lyric is plain and repeated: a “holy girl” is asked not to get up, not to run, to stay in bed. There is no guest singer to hide behind. That was the point of the sessions, and the restraint is what makes the plea land.
Godin and Dunckel told Magnet, just before release, that they had been unsure about singing in English with French accents. Godrich told them that was what English listeners already liked. He also pushed them to drop the habit of calling in outside vocalists. Cherry Blossom Girl still uses extra voices, and Surfing on a Rocket brings in Jason Falkner and Lisa Papineau, but Run does not. The lead vocal is the duo, close to the mic. The album’s three singles were Cherry Blossom Girl, Surfing on a Rocket, and Alpha Beta Gaga. Run was not one of them. It still left the record, and it still does the quiet work of saying who Air were in 2004.
We were a little bit unsure about our French accents in the songs. Nigel told us that that’s what English people like about us: ‘They like your French way of speaking. They like your French accent.’
(Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Magnet, December 2003)
Critics treated Talkie Walkie as a return to clearer songs after the harder shapes of 10 000 Hz Legend. Metacritic averaged 75 from 29 reviews. Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone called the album excellent and said Air were back to soundtrack music for films that did not exist. Run then turned up in films that did. It plays in the 2004 French movie Lila Says and in the Veronica Mars episode “Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner.” Alone in Kyoto, from the same album, had already been in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation in 2003. The record was doing picture work before it was even a year old.
Godin credited Godrich with the nerve to make “drastic choices,” including the choice to sing. Run is one of those choices in miniature: a short plea, a dry vocal, no featured name on the sleeve. If you want the Air of 2004 rather than the Air of 1998, start here. The accent stays. The guest list does not. Four minutes twelve of staying in bed when the title says run.
