Doubtless due to her acting commitments, Charlotte Gainsburg's fourth album has taken seven years to materialize. Fortunately, it's worth the wait.
The eleven tracks are accurately billed as a "compelling fusion of gleaming, string-emblazoned modern electro-pop".
Not being a French speaker, these are tunes where the mood matters most. Thanks to Charlotte Gainsburg's sensuously hushed vocals this is never less than stylish and sexy.
I have to take it on trust that I’m A Lie is "frank and self-examining".
Judging by the videos of three of the songs - Ring A Ring O’ Roses, Rest and Deadly Valentine - I imagine the lyrics are musings on love, aging and death. Giorgio Moroder rhythms in the latter mean that any melancholia is lifted by a slick disco beat.
A few English lyrics creep in and Songbird In A Cage was written for her by Paul McCartney, although I doubt Sir Macca conceived it as the funky upbeat tune it has morphed into.
The title track, co-written by Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, is another track tailor-made for those keen to show off their moves on the dance floor but it's debatable whether the whimsical whispered lines "We are walking in the air, riding in the midnight blue" add very much to the mix.
The album closes with the longest and, in my estimation, best track. Les Oxalis has a thrilling sense of energy in motion which shows off the cinematic textures that Frank Ocean producer by SebastiAn brings to the table.
This exemplifies how 'Rest' manages to be a celebration of intelligent dance music whilst also being a make out record par excellence.