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Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
At some point in many actresses’ lives they suddenly believe that is time for them to carve out a recording career. Personally I believe that this occurs as they recall fifties icons such as Doris Day and Judy Garland that were able to do it with such aplomb and thus believe that it must not be that hard. The problem is that nine times out of ten this ends with ridicule; recent examples include Scarlett Johansson, Lindsay Lohan and Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere. However, some are able to straddle the gap between successful actress and respectful musician and Charlotte Gainsbourg, just like Zooey Deschanel, appears to have found that balance.
Coming fresh from her win at Cannes in the controversial Lars Von Trier film Antichrist, Gainsbourg’s third album IRM once again contains remnants from her musical heritage (her parents Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin released the highly controversial song ‘Je t’aime... moi non plus’ back in the sixties) due to her breathy, sultry singing and the sexual undertones of many of the lyrics.
In an effort to reinvent herself somewhat, Gainsbourg has employed the perfect producer for anyone who is willing to genre-hop, Beck. In this way the sweeping strings, heavy percussion and general sounds of distortion enable Gainsbourg’s songs to ascend to a new plane. Somehow it resembles a similar move by former Belle & Sebastian cellist Isobell Campbell when she teamed up with Queens of the Stone Age regular Mark Lanegan. However, the way that this differs is that Beck never truly encroaches on Gainsbourg’s territory and is in fact able to sculpt the production around her voluptuous voice, a choice example being the strings and simple piano that form the back drop of ‘Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes’.
This is not to say that Beck does not leave a highly discernable fingerprint on her work, for there are tracks where fans will be able to pick out definite influences. This is most apparent on ‘Voyage’ where the percussive line bares a heavy resemblance to Guero’s ‘Black Tambourine’ while the accompanying synths and strings sound like they have been directly borrowed from Sea Change’s ‘Paper Tiger’.
In the end though, all an artist can really be is the culmination of their influences, and on IRM the unlikely duo that is Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck’s form a great cohesion. Here her background in chanson and his in musical experimentation pay dividends and allow the listener an experience that varies between ethereal and indie but is never dull and maintains the sultry mystique throughout.
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