Though I've only given it one listen-through, I love Charlotte Gainsbourg's latest album, IRM.The tracks are extremely diverse as Gainsbourg experiments with different vocal styles and moods. For this reason, I already like it better than her 2007 album 5:55, which features an omnipresent whisper that sounds recited rather than sung. Don't get me wrong: I like that vocal style too, but this change is nice. (She's not the most talented singer in the world, but I'm a sucker for natural voices that blatantly sound untrained, innocent... honest.)
There are some solid pop songs on IRM too -- another thing that's missing from 5:55. So far, the most enchanting tracks to me are: "In The End," which was featured in the French version of Where the Wild Things Are, "Me and Jane Doe," and "Trick Pony."
"Me and Jane Doe" and "Trick Pony" performed on "Morning Becomes Eclectic":
Air made the music for 5:55, so naturally that record wound up sounding like an Air album only with Gainsbourg on vocals. For IRM, Beck wrote and produced the music, so this record sounds like a Beck album (specifically Sea Change) with Gainsbourg on vocals. (I'm seeing a pattern here...)
I really can't wait to see who she enlists next, because, so far, her musical marriages with various artists have resulted in beautifully recorded babies.
Here's the music video for the single on IRM, "Heaven Can Wait."
