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Album Review

Charlotte Gainsbourg
IRM Because

Article written by Matt H - Feb 7, 2010

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Beck's with lemon?

Having followed her mother's path into acting (and overtaken her), Charlotte Gainsbourg seems to being doing similarly with her musical career - providing a foil to male musicians to fulfill their dream. Her first album 5:55 allowed the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon and Air to live out teenage reveries of creating songs with slightly outre French actresses. The fact that this was the (pas-si) beau Serge's daughter only added to the frisson and made for an excellently breathy pop record.

IRM is a more monogamous collaboration, with Beck this time, and it shows. Gainsbourg's breathy, French-tinged-RP vocals are present and beautifully correct, adding to Beck's familiar slipshod, quirkpop. It's nicely constructed stuff, slack and muzzy of beat, dressed with all manner of muffled trickery from electronics to brass. Gentle, pristine pop music or grimier shimmy, rather too often it sounds simply like Beck's got a new vocalist or like a new Psapp album. Now, I like Psapp, but you rather expect more given the players. Once or twice though Beck forgets pride and just channels the ghost in the background. For instance Le Chat du Cafe des Artistes thieves liberally from Serge in both its piano riff and string arrangement. Married to some gentle feedback effects it's all to the better. Voyage too regales in pure Gainbourgois strings and the Sly and Robbie rhythms of Serge's later work. Both are largely sung in French too, which may just be coincidence.

In the end, it's not so much that the record falls short as that expectations can get too high. There's some truly beautiful moments, such as Vanities' delicate atmospherics or La Collectioneuse's spoken word ending, which you suspect will reward a few repeated listenings.

Links:
http://www.charlottegainsbourg.com/
http://www.because.tv/
http://www.myspace.com/charlottegainsbourg