City Reading (Tre Storie Western) is a collaborative studio album by French band Air and Italian author Alessandro Baricco. Released in 2003, it merges music and spoken word to create an evocative narrative soundscape. The project started when Air performed some live improvisations to the readings of Alessandro Baricco for French radio. After being approached by Astralwerks with a suggestion to work on a similar project for an album release, they created City Reading.
The album presents three stories (or "westerns" as they're called on the album) by Baricco: "Bird," "La Puttana di Closingtown," and "Caccia all'Uomo." Each story constitutes a significant portion of the album and is divided into multiple tracks, though they flow into each other seamlessly.
The music is minimalistic, with Air focusing mostly on creating an atmosphere that supports and enhances the stories rather than drawing attention to itself. The primary language spoken in the album is Italian.
As a piece of trivia, the cover art of the album represents a gold rush town, "Arrow Rock 830 residents", linked to the 'western' theme as narrated by Baricco. For fans of Baricco's work or Air's unique musical style, City Reading serves as a captivating experiment in musical storytelling.
Critically, the album was generally well-received, with reviewers appreciating its conceptual boldness and the successful blend of spoken word narrative with Air's atmospheric music.
