"All I Need" is a song by French music group

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

from their debut album ''

Moon Safari ''Moon Safari'' is the debut studio album by French electronic music duo Air, released on 16 January 1998 by Source and Virgin Records. ''Moon Safari'' was re-released on 14 April 2008 to mark the album's 10th anniversary, including a bound book ...

'' (1998). The song was written by group members

Nicolas Godin Nicolas Godin (born 25 December 1969) is a French musician best known for being half of the music duo Air. Early life Godin was born in Paris, Île-de-France, France, and studied architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture d ...

and

Jean-Benoît Dunckel Jean-Benoît Dunckel (born 7 September 1969) is a French musician best known for being one half of the French music duo Air, along with Nicolas Godin. In the 1980s, he formed the band Orange with Alex Gopher, Xavier Jamaux and Jean de Reydellet ...

, along with American singer Beth Hirsch, who provides vocals on the song. Production of the song was handled by the former two. The song was released as the third single from ''Moon Safari'' on 9 November 1998.

Background

The song came about in a period when Beth Hirsch and Air members

and

all resided in the French district of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

. Hirsch had gone to record in the house of a producer who also lived in the neighborhood. In the house, Godin was sitting on a couch, waiting to meet her. Having heard a demo of Hirsch's, he invited her to record some tracks for ''Moon Safari''. Following this invitation, Hirsch wrote the lyrics and melody of "All I Need". At the request of the band, she went on to compose another track for the album, "You Make It Easy".

Writing and composition

"All I Need" was written by Nicolas Godin, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Beth Hirsch, and was produced by the former two. Dunckel plays multiple instruments on the track, including

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, a

Korg MS-20 The Korg MS-20 is a patchable semi-modular monophonic analog synthesizer which Korg released in 1978 and which was in production until 1983. It was part of Korg's MS series of instruments, which also included the single oscillator MS-10, the ke ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

and

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

. Likewise, Godin plays

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, bass, three different synthesizers (Korg MS-20,

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

and

Solina String Ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United States ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and organ. Patrick Woodcock also accompanies Godin in playing acoustic guitar on the track.

Audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, ...

of the track was handled by Stéphane "Alf" Briat at Plus XXX Studios, a studio in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, with additional mixing being provided by Jérôme Blondel. The track was recorded by Godin and Dunckel at "Around the Golf" as well as in Gang, Paris. Jérôme Kerner provided additional recording of the song and Peter Cobbin recorded the song's

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The song was

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

by Nilesh Patel. The song is based on the earlier Air track "Les professionnels", from their EP '' Premiers Symptômes'' (1997).

Critical reception

"All I Need" received positive reviews from critics, who praised Hirsch's vocal performance and the track's instrumentation. Chris Jones of

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praised Hirsch's performance on the track, writing that her vocals "could almost break your stimulant-weary heart." Mike Diver of

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

wrote that the track "holds up well as a blissful ballad" and similarly praised Hirsch's vocal performance, as well as marking the track "still absolutely gorgeous" in his review of the 2008 re-issue of ''Moon Safari''. Paul Schrodt of

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

wrote: "the gently plucked guitar in 'All I Need,' ..lushly falls into place, escalates, and then dissipates into some kind of slickly produced ether." ''Rolling Stone'' described the song as "a tragic café ballad." The song was selected as one of 10,000 songs to "download and listen to before you die" in the 2010 book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die''.

Music video

The music video for "All I Need" was directed by

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

. It features a young skateboarding couple talking about their mutual affection for each other and their relationship. The third episode of Air's

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

''Air Time Machine'' revealed that the couple featured in the video was a real couple from

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

, who have since broken up. Asked about the video in an interview, Mills stated:

That video definitely was a big turning point for me as I discovered something in myself. You know when you do something and the piece is far bigger than you are. Just by luck or unconscious something pops out and you're like 'whoa, what was that?'. And with that piece it was a willingness to be totally sincere and borderline maudlin but hopefully not. Emotional without being maudlin. I had always been sort of afraid of that and hidden before behind maybe a little irony or a just little distance. But that piece kinda showed me that I can get really emotional, I can get really sincere and actually I really loved the way the audience really reacted to it. I was like I want more of that! I want more people's interior lives and how complicated that is and how sort of endless that is.

Track listing

*CD maxi single (United Kingdom and Australia) # "All I Need" (edit) – 4:01 # "Kelly Watch the Stars" (

Moog Cookbook The Moog Cookbook was an American electronic duo consisting of Meco Eno (Roger Manning) and Uli Nomi (Brian Kehew). The project was a parody of and tribute to the novelty Moog records of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which featured cover vers ...

Remix) – 5:40 # "Kelly Watch the Stars" (American Girls Remix) – 5:13 *;12" vinyl single (United Kingdom) :Side one # "All I Need" (edit) – 3:59 # "Kelly Watch the Stars" (American Girls Remix) – 5:12 :Side two # "Kelly Watch the Stars" (Moog Cookbook Remix) – 5:39

Credits and personnel

The credits for "All I Need" are adapted from the liner notes of ''Moon Safari''. ;Mastering * Mastered at The Exchange,

. ;Mixing * Mixed at Plus XXX Studios, Paris. ;Recording * Recorded at "Around the Golf" and at Gang,

. * Strings recorded at

. ;Personnel * Patrick Woodcock –

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, recording,

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

– acoustic guitar, bass, Korg MS-20,

and

synthesizers,

, organ, production, recording, songwriting * Beth Hirsch – songwriting,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Stéphane "Alf" Briat – mixing, recording * Jérôme Blondel – additional mixing * Peter Cobbin – recording of

* Nilesh Patel – mastering * Jérôme Kerner – additional recording

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:All I Need (Air Song) 1998 singles Air (French band) songs 1998 songs Virgin Records singles Astralwerks singles Songs written by Nicolas Godin Songs written by Jean-Benoît Dunckel