Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing (Atlantic)
UK release date: 28 August 2006
Charlotte Gainsbourg already has it made. Amongst her big screen appearances was 21 Grams alongside Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep opposite Gael García Bernal. And lest it be forgotten, the names of her parents are Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Are we jealous yet?
Perhaps we've peaked too soon with the jealousy-making. She's been sampled by Madonna. She sang backing vocals for Badly Drawn Boy. So are you in the slightest surprised when I tell you that her debut single, The Songs That We Sing, was written for her not only by Air duo Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel, but Neil Hannon and Jarvis Cocker as well?
Frankly, I don't care if you're jealous. I am. Distressingly, it's not even possible to mildly dislike this single. It's gorgeous, even if with the songsmiths behind it we knew it would be. Vocal harmonies remind of the late, lamented Kirsty MacColl. Breathy, literate, enunciated wordplay whispered seductively makes her a rival of Sarah Nixey. A mute trumpet momentarily conjures Simply Red's It's Only Love, but the rest of the arrangement - glocks (that'll be Cocker) underpinned by Philip Glass-like strings (that'll be Hannon) - balance out the writing talents and playful lyrics to create something all of itself.
It precedes a debut album, 5:55. I, for one, can't wait. I'll just have to deal with that jealousy problem...
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