Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
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Free Music Notes for 5:55
Free Music Review: Atmospheric.
Hit: 4 Stars
Her mother Jane Birkin added her breathy, orgasmic tones to her father Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus".
And the family resemblances are unavoidable in Charlotte's album, that voice hesitant, barely a whisper at times, but shimmering with sexiness.
What saves this album from being a lot of Gallic mumblings bound up in its own self-importance is the heavweight help the family name commanded.
The result of Gainsbourg's meeting with Nicolas Godin, one half of French electronica duo Air, at a Radiohead concert in Paris, 5:55 is a carefully crafted gem.
Gainsbourg's voice is as slight and breathy as her mother's, but lyrics by Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon create a hazy, Gauloise-inflected intimacy against full, string-rich arrangements by producer Nigel Godrich, those Parisian maestros of wafting electronica "Air" are on board, as is "Radiohead" producer Nigel Godrich and Nigerian percussionist Tony Allen, lauded by Brian Eno as "the greatest musician on the planet".
The title track "5:55" and the first single "The Songs That We Sing stand out", the former haunting and piano-led, the latter carrying an infectiously boisterous chorus.
At times Gainsbourg's thin voice and finishing-school vowels can grate, but the album as a whole is emotive, rewarding and compelling - a world away from feather-strewn beds and dodgy filial duets.
We get the mildly erotic, such as the teasing "Beauty Mark", and we get something like beat poetry in "AF607105", with its stark lines about air travel.
There's also big helpings of the kind of wistful balladeering only the French can muster.
4 * * * * and 1/2.
The Originals
Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg
Songs That We Sing
L'EffronteeGolden Door
Free Music Review: A different Charlotte
Hit: 4 Stars
Charlotte Gainsbourg 5:55 borrows more from "Air" than from her father Serge, and is a complete departure from her previous works. I had hoped that she would've stuck to French, but being the daughter of British singer/actress Jane Birkin (after whom the famous French luxury goods maker Herm?s named one of its lines), her English is impeccable and sounds quite sexy. This is a good, solid performance, albeit not one that will keep you awake.Free Music Review: Somewhere between waking and sleeping
Hit: 4 Stars
A couple of weeks ago I came across the US debut album 5:55 by Charlotte Gainsbourg at my local library. I read that she had worked with the guys in Air and Jarvis Cocker so I thought I would check the cd out. I have to admit that the album is a bit too mellow for my liking. It is definitely not something I want to listen to at the office but it is perfect to listen to at home. The dreamy ambient pop and Charlotte's whispery vocals. In lieu of the recent success of Feist and Yael Naim, I am surprised that Charlotte hasn't received a bit more attention since her vocals are awfully similiar to Feist and Yael's. All three women almost are just talking through out their music. However I am bored with Feist and Yael. What I like about 5:55 is Air's contributions. You can definitely hear the Air influences in the music with the deliciate melodies. It would have been nice if Charlotte would have ditched the dreamy pop sound for a bit and rocked out more, or if the beats took a more upbeat dance sound. The album does tend to be a bit too mellow but overall I do like what I heard.Free Music Review: Charlotte completes the Gainsbourg family on my iPod.
Hit: 4 Stars
French starlet Charlotte Gainsbourg is the beautiful daughter of French icons Jane Birkin (Blow Up; J Birkin: Best of Jane Birkin) and Serge Gainsbourg (The Originals; Love and the Beat, Vol. 2). She made her musical debut at age 13, singing with her father on his infamously controversial song, "Lemon Incest." Produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck), Gainsbourg's seductively breathy album, 5:55, is the collaborative result of French electro-ambient duo Air (Moon Safari), Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, and Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. Gainsbourg's vocals infuse these melodic songs with an intoxicating intimacy. One can almost hear both her parents' genetic influences in her ethereal voice as it meanders through Air's ambient melodies. (I have read that Gainsbourg opted to sing in English on this album as a child prodigy's act of small rebellion against her famous French parents.) "The cabin is burning, I smile and feel complete," she sings in the haunting AF607105 (a song about a plane plummeting to earth). In the seductive Operation (a metaphor for dissecting a relationship), she sings, "I wanna examine every inch of your frame, the pressure points that cause you joy and pain." Whereas this poetic album went platinum in France where it received critical acclaim, American critics (and some earlier Amazon Reviewers) have been less positive, which is perhaps reason enough to experience this album and then decide for yourself. With her musical genes, and based on this album, I believe Charlotte Gainsbourg has potential as the next popular French chanteuse. All 13 album tracks include:
1. 5:55 4:52
2. AF607105 4:30
3. The Operation 3:59
4. Tel Que Tu Es 3:09
5. The Songs That We Sing (album version) 2:57
6. Beauty Mark 3:06
7. Little Monsters 3:46
8. Jamais 4:37
9. Night-Time Intermission 2:44
10. Everything I Cannot See 5:45
11. Morning Song 3:08
12. Set Yourself On Fire 4:10
13. Somewhere Between Waking & Sleeping 3:45
G. Merritt
Free Music Review: How could one go wrong?
Hit: 3 Stars
3.5 Stars - Yes, this album is undoubtedly enjoyable and there are some amazing tracks (The Operation, AF607105, Little Monsters, Set Yourself On Fire, 5:55, and in that particular order). However, how could you not make a good album with Air composing your music? Those guys are good. That being said, even with Cocker, Hannon, and Air on board, this album is good but not great. Air's Talkie Walkie is superior to this.