Even if you haven’t heard her music, chances are that you’ll have at least heard of Charlotte Gainsbourg, or be familiar with her name. Love child of the voices behind 60’s iconic shag-single-pairing Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Charlotte was first heard on the music scene, featuring on her dad’s 1984 album ‘Love On The Beat’. Since then she has participated in a number of musical collaborations and has won critical acclaim for her acting (Charlotte first shot to fame back in 1993 with her role in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s ‘The Cement Garden’, a story about child incest and teenage alienation). Is there anything this woman can’t do?
Her latest musical offering ‘5:55’ is a laid back, chilled out album sounding very similar to fellow French musicians Air’s ‘Talkie Walkie’ with its smooth beats, echoing keyboard chords and ripping piano tunes in the background. This uncanny similarity though can be ignored once Charlotte’s soft, sensuous vocals are heard, flowing over the top of the music, her barely perceptible French accent adding a frission of seduction and exotic-ism to the otherwise unremarkable tunes.
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Charlotte alternates easily between French and English vocals, sounding equally at home in both and her silky tones bring to mind a sultry singer in a bar lying on top of a piano whilst men sit around her, falling madly in love with her, with just a single flutter of her eyelashes.
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