It's easy to think of Air France as escapists. In Sweden, as in the U.S. and the rest of Europe, people are living under gray clouds of worry brought about by economic slowdown. The cold Swedish winter nights are long. Air France's 2008 No Way Down EP-- recently bundled with 2007's On Trade Winds EP as a deluxe-edition release in the UK-- is the sound of paradise, with conga drums, bongos, and nature sound effects suggesting lazy days of revelry in sunny island redoubts, not icy Scandinavian evenings or drab fears like losing that office job you hate anyway.It's easy to think of Air France as escapists, but it's missing the point-- as this video for the No Way Down EP's "No Excuses" (not an Alice in Chains cover) suggests. Directed by Marcus Söderlund, the clip maintains the director's recurring focus on natural beauty, but this time he's showing us dark and forbidding waves rather than sunshine or windmills. As cold as the water looks, a man is out there surfing anyway, as Air France's sampled strings, woodwinds, bright guitars, and handclap-laden beats evoke pure joy. Paradise is no fantasy, no stupid escape: It's here and now, ready to be seized. No excuses.Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.[original version from the No Way Down EP; out now on Sincerely Yours and as a deluxe edition in the UK on Something in Construction]