Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55

Charlotte Gainsbourg
5:55 (Vice, 2007)
Grade: B

Download: Charlotte Gainsbourg - "The Operation"
Download: Charlotte Gainsbourg - "Tel Que Tu Es"

Charlotte Gainsbourg possesses a softness and gentle grace that I cannot even begin to understand. I find myself repeatedly fascinated by these magical women who make a form of music all their own. Not only is Gainsbourg one of (if not the) most prominent actresses in French film today, but she also happens to be the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jan Birkin (very cool), and may be most well-known for singing on "Lemon Incest" when she was but 13.

I happened to fall in love with her in "The Science of Sleep" after I connected a bit too much with the protagonist for my own comfort, and decided to check out her album 5:55, which came out in the states last Tuesday.

The always hip and cool dynamic French duo Air composed and performed most of the music on the album, while Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp fame, see the review we posted last week of his new album) wrote the majority of the lyrics. All of this is fronted by a very dreamy and wonderfully mumbly bilingual performance by Gainsbourg.

Most of the album is driven by piano, light acoustic guitar, synthed strings and a few shakers, which makes for a very cool, very patient pop album -- there are also brief electronic moments that keep things lively and interesting. The main focus of the album really is her remarkable voice, which makes anything sound good, so, really, she could be fooling everyone.

In short, Gainsbourg's music is just as spacey and absent-minded as she appears to be, but also as beautiful.

MySpace Page
Buy the album from Insound.

(Ian Anderson)