Charlotte Gainsbourg
5:55
Warner


While Charlotte Gainsbourg may be more well-known for her acting (she starred in 'My Wife Is An Actress' and '21 Grams'), this has not stopped her from following in the footsteps of her father, French pop provocateur, Serge Gainsbourg, and building a musical career as well. With what is only Ms Gainsbourg's second album in almost nine years, '5:55', she demonstrates that it is actually possible to fit within the singer-actress category and excel at both. A good selection of collaborators certainly help - especially when the album's lyrics are primarily written by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, while the arrangements are handled by both famed electronic artists Air and composer David Campbell (whose son, Beck, has delivered numerous successful albums over the past 15 years).

Regardless of whether much of the credit is deserved by Gainsbourg's collaborators, the resulting music is a perfect fit for her delicate, fluid voice. The music may bear resemblance to Air's own album 'Talkie Walkie', but the music here is more organic, the sound fitted to Gainsbourg's voice instead of the other way around. This begins with the title track, in which early morning is described against the sound of lush, sweeping guitars and violins. Elsewhere in the album, Air's electronic influence becomes more apparent, such as on the laid-back, retro-lounge sound of Jamais, or the unabashedly lovely, glockenspiel-laden Tel Que Tu Es, the only song Gainsbourg performs in French. The lyrics, too, are far more interesting than almost anything else in the area of female alt-pop. Take AF607105, where Gainsbourg relays the experience of an extremely glamorous plane crash. The Operation, about the closest Gainsbourg comes to singing a conventional song about sex, has her instead discussing a surgeon very physically exploring a person's body. In short, there are more than enough touches to make every track both lovely and unusual and every bit as rewarding a listen as one could hope for from such a high-profile collaboration.

Brian O'Neill