The Air Is on Fire (album)

The Air Is on Fire
Soundtrack album by David Lynch
Released	March 15, 2007
Genre	Ambient[1]
Length	58:23 (CD) 41:46 (LP)
Label	Strange World Sacred Bones
David Lynch chronology
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity (2006) The Air Is on Fire (2007) David Lynch's Inland Empire: Soundtrack (2007)

The Air Is on Fire is a soundtrack album by the American director and musician David Lynch. It was released on March 15, 2007 on Strange World Music.^[2] The soundtrack was composed by Lynch and collaborator Dean Hurley and accompanied Lynch's exhibition of paintings, photographs and drawings of the same name at Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris, France in 2007.

Originally issued on CD, a limited-edition LP of The Air Is on Fire was released in April 2014 on Sacred Bones Records as part of Record Store Day. The LP was limited to 2,000 copies.^[1]

Composition

In an interview on Arte Radio in 2007, Dean Hurley used various phrases to describe The Air Is on Fire's sound, including "a large flashbulb paparazzi sound", "short drum machine phrases", "brief phrases of machines working", "dubbed industrial hip hop", "characteristic winds", "punch-presses pitched down", "train mechanisms and large steel-factory samples" and "metal structures that were welded together."^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Pitchfork	7.8/10[4]

Writing for Pitchfork, critic Marc Masters gave The Air Is on Fire a positive review. Masters drew comparisons between the album's sound and the styles of Demdike Stare and the Haxan Cloak and said that "even at its densest, The Air Is on Fire is pretty simple sonically, which gives it a universal tone. It's not about cutting-edge techniques or never-heard-before concoctions. It's about using sound to tell a wordless story and evoke undefined emotions. On those counts, it succeeds thoroughly."^[4]

Track listing

All music composed by David Lynch and Dean Hurley. 

2007 CD track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Untitled"	12:40
2.	"Untitled"	6:50
3.	"Untitled"	3:09
4.	"Untitled"	3:56
5.	"Untitled"	11:58
6.	"Untitled"	6:37
7.	"Untitled"	4:16
8.	"Untitled"	8:52
Total length:		58:23

2014 LP track listing
Side A No. Title Length 1. "Untitled"   21:48
Side B No. Title Length 2. "Untitled"   19:58 Total length: 41:46

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from The Air Is on Fire's album notes.^[5][6]

Performers

• David Lynch – instrumentation, sound design
• Dean Hurley – instrumentation, arrangement

Technical personnel

• David Lynch – recording
• Dean Hurley – recording, editing, mixing

Design personnel

• David Lynch – design, cover art
• Sacred Bones Design – additional design (2014 LP reissue)

References

1. Hudson, Alex (April 2, 2014). "David Lynch's Record Store Day Reissue of 'The Air Is on Fire' Detailed". Exclaim!. 1059434 Ontario. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
2. "The Air Is on Fire (Exhibition Soundscape) by David Lynch & Dean Hurley". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
3. Hurley, Dean (2007). "The Air Is on Fire interview" (Interview). Paris, France: ARTE Radio.
4. Masters, Marc (April 22, 2014). "David Lynch: The Air Is on Fire Album Review". Pitchfork. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
5. The Air Is on Fire (Album notes). David Lynch. Strange World Music. 2007. SWM001.
6. The Air Is on Fire (Album notes). David Lynch. Sacred Bones Records. 2014. SBR-3015.

External links

• The Air Is on Fire at Discogs (list of releases)
• The Air Is on Fire at MusicBrainz (list of releases)