Irm [CD]

In 1971, aged 42, Serge Gainsbourg entered a London recording studio armed with a 50-peice orchestra and the beautiful Jane Birkin on his arm, he later emerged with his pop masterpeice 'L'Histoire de Melody Nelson'. The album is a true monument of French art and has many admirer's including Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Sterolab and Beck. It is Beck who is of most interest here, for in 2009 Charlotte Gainsbourg entered an American studio armed with more than 30 musicians and the multi-talented Beck Hansen on her arm. And here we are in 2010, Ms Gaingbourg has emerged with another pop masterpeice.

It would be wholly unfair to sit here and compare this record with her father's legacy (even though I just have) but it is almost impossible not to draw some comparisons. For a start it is interesting from the social aspect that it is now the male artist (Beck) supporting the female protaganist, but then one is drawn towards the question of just who is playing the part of the Jane Birkin style muse when Beck is writing all but one of the songs featured on this set, is he Gainsbourg's male muse or indeed is she playing the supportive role towards his most creative and playful release since 1996's 'Odelay'?. Either way it does'nt matter, because between them they have released a mighty fine record and certainly a career high for Gainsbourg.

The album opens with the dreamy 'Masters Hands'. It's African-style percussion, bass and sparse acoustic guitars are the foundations to which Gainsbourg unleashes her whimsical vocal style. The moment two minutes in where the strings make their first appearence is both beautiful and prothetic for the entire record. Track 2 is the M.I.A-style title track which uses a heavy military percussion and some creative multi-harmonising, all the while Gainsbourg shows a flair for some nice euro-rapping and even shows the confidence to refrence The Beatles ('Looking through a glass onion'). Track 3 'Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes' is probably the closest the album gets to sounding like 'L'Histoire de Melody Nelson' with it's use of an orchestra and it's french lyrics, it is arguably the records most stately moment and closely resembles the sound that Portishead acheived in the mid 90's. Other highlights on the album include the drum 'n' piano stomp that is 'Heaven Can Wait', the stunning 'Time Of The Assasins' and original ending 'The Collector' which has one of the most beautiful climaxes I've heard in a long time. A special mention also for the little dittie 'Me And Jane Doe' which sounds like it would feel at home on any number of Indie film soundtracks like 'Juno' or 'the Squid And The Whale'.

In 1971 Serge Gainsbourg's masterpeice was severly overlooked by critics and the general public. In the 40 years since it's inception it has gained recognition by word-of-mouth and celebrity endorsment. He spent the rest of his life trying to recreate it's magic but eventually turned his attention to film and predominantly television. When he he died in 1991 (aged 62) he was a French icon and french president François Mitterrand hailed him as the modern Charles Baudelaire (a nineteenth century french poet). In 2010 Charlotte Gainsbourg (aged 38) has produced 3 albums and appeared in various films (most notably '21 Grams', 'I'm Not There' and 'Antichrist'). She has the un-enviable situation of having to life outside of her father's immense shadow but this record shows that she is more than capable of acheiving such a lofty goal. A truly essential purchase and France may just have found another sweetheart to stand alongside Carla Bruni.

Having only heard of Charlotte in her acting guise, I was surprised to learn of her having released a couple of albums of late.
I remember watching Antichrist a few weeks back (not the easiest watch, I'll admit) and finding her utterly mesmerising, and in possession of quite possibly the loveliest voice I'd ever heard (with perfect diction)

When I found out about her heritage in music, I thought I'd give her two albums (this and 5:55) a punt.

I'm very happy I did! 5:55 is fantastic, but this just edges it in my opinion.
the music is quite tin-pot sounding in part (it definitely has that classic Beck feel to it) but it pulls together really nicely, with some epic Serge-esque string sections help to give the whole affair quite a "complete" feel.

It seems I've fallen under Ms Gainsbourg's spell somewhat, where I've heard others dismiss her as a "non-singer" I'd have to disagree....I think her breathy whispers compliment her choice of tracks perfectly.

There are several stand out tracks on the album (in particular the title track, replete with sinistir mechanical M.R.I whirrings and a tribal thump) and the constant changes of pace help it maintain a nice flow and stops it from settling into a slump (something I think 5:55 is unfortunately guilty of in places)

I'd recommend this heartily to anyone looking for something a bit "different" to the usual fare, it's certainly not going to be getting much airplay (that's for sure)

Ps - the music video on the bonus DVD is completely bonkers.

Some people are born lucky, with iconic parents from which they can extract and form their own charm and image. In some photos, Charlotte's profile is an uncanny silhouette echo of her father Serge, whilst she sports the same baggy jumpers, t-shirts and teasing hot pants Jane did in the late 60s. For this album, more so maybe than for the beautiful previous '5:55' , a lot of work has been done to explore Charlotte's vocal potential, which it has to be said, is unfortunately not astounding in the purely technical sense.
However, it is the slightly anxious, out-of-breath whispers we loved to hear from Jane a few years back, which perfectly suit the music prepared here for her by prolific music-master Beck. It is that fragility and complex moodiness which firmly establishes Charlotte as the new sensitive gamine of cross-channel chanson. Beck composed an appropriate musical masterpiece for Charlotte who in turn, has grasped sufficient maturity to act it out perfectly. A great combination where middle-American quirkiness meets Parisian café existentialism.