Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55

I suppose there's no need to spend too much time blogging about Ms. Gainsbourg's new CD, 5:55, since this is probably the most blogged about CD of the moment. But I have listened to it about 10 times in the last couple of weeks and it keeps getting better and better. The music is provided by Air, the lyrics by Neil Hannon and Jarvis Cocker, and she is the daughter of legendary french pop dude Serge Gainsbourg. Of course if you frequent other music blogs than you already know this. Her breathy vocals are performed almost at a whisper, and in some cases she comes across as sort of a female Leonard Cohen. You blog readers probably already know this too. Yep, she's all over the blogosphere but unlike the Voxtrot's, Tokyo Police Club's and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's out there, Charlotte fully deserves it. She has an incredibly beautiful and slumberous voice and her songs expose an air of enchantment that is not readily available in indie rock today. "Beauty Mark," for example, is one of the best songs of the year. The deepness of the following description: "this little death / this mark of sin / forever printed on my skin / i save it for you," speaks to me of a woman deeply scorned but still having trouble letting go, completely. The album is deep, and although she may not have had much of a share in writing it, she DEFINITELY SELLS IT. So although I don't necessarily urge you to follow the advice of EVERY music blogger out there, this time I do. They're all correct. She is great. This CD is perfection.

Download:
AF607105 mp3

Visit Charlotte Gainsbourg's myspace.
Purchase "5:55" on Amazon.ca.