Available on: Sincerely Yours download

In retrospect, Air France did chillwave before chillwave. Pop songs drawn in airy, pastel tones, heavy on the reverb and samples, and all before The Wire had dropped “hypnagogic pop”, let alone whoever coined the “Summer of chillwave”.

If they’d followed their 2006 and 2008 EPs with a full album then they’d probably be considered, if not quite Godfathers of that sound – that’s Ariel Pink, don’t you know – Foreign Ambassadors at least. But for various reasons, some explained in a recent interview, they never did. Time to make up for lost time then.

‘It Feels Good to be Around You’ is the first Air France music to emerge since 2009 mp3 ‘GBG Belongs to Us’, and it captures the duo in sharper, more cutting form than before. They’ve clearly been listening to the more ethereal UK music to develop since their early records – there’s more than a touch about ‘Far Nearer’ in both this track’s vibe and its title – but rather than simply ape those pitch-shifted vocals that are synonymous with Jamie xx, early FaltyDL et al, they do a pretty good job of shaping them into that hip-hop-indebted brand of Euro-pop that’s undoubtedly Sincerely Yours.

Tam Gunn