Daughter of an icon, film star, model, global hipster and now sultry singer in her own right, Charlotte Gainsbourg has delivered one of the finest folktronica records in many years. With dots, loops, keys and overall musical texture provided by French phenoms Air, “5:55″ is a luminously sweeping and at times gloriously moping mood piece rivaling the best DJ efforts of the genre (Zero 7, Morcheeba, Hotel Costes).

Gainsbourg is always at the center of it all with her seductively hushed vocals accompanying either lush string arrangements and brooding piano, or the upbeat almost dance tunes spun around tight drum loops, retro funk/dance rhythms or spacey sounding science fiction soundtrack music. It would be hard for anyone with a bias for pervasive and interconnected hipsterism not to fall hard and fast for a person so clearly steeped in so much of what is going on starring (films by Michel Gondry, records with Air, and a whole bunch of stuff I couldn’t possibly keep track of).

But more than yet another actress gone singer fiasco, “5:55″ is triumph with Charlotte Gainsbourg setting a very high bar …

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.