IRM Gainsbourg and Beck

So that this blog doesn't get pigeonholed as exclusive to the remotely unlistennable and inaccesible, I'll review the new Chalotte Gainbourg album IRM here. Sure it's a pop record but it is a damn fine pop record and I'm confident that many music editorials will be scrambling to include it on their year end lists. After hearing the title track I was a bit confused, sure it was good, an understated hommage to Broadcast perhaps, I was never sold on Beck's musiciaship, he existed outside the relm of my contemporary interests, but here with Gainsbourg he shines. Her voice is unexceptional, but it works well over these fourteen varied tracks, of which almost every one is a fascinating pop-diamond. The listenability of this record is unsurpassed, remaining sleekly approachable while maintaining that euro-chic strangeness, especially on songs like 'Heaven Can Wait' or 'Grenwich Mean Time'. Though I don't own any of his records I'm convinced of Beck's experience here as he takes risks with Gainsbourg I think he would avoid on his own albums, somehow pulling off things like the T-Rex-esque track 'Dandelion'.

A good year for Charlotte Gainsbourg! Let's hope she doesn't become a Scientologist.

IRM > Antichrist.