Charlotte Gainsbourg

To talk about Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55, you almost have to start not with Gainsbourg herself, but with all the other talent involved: the French pop/electronic duo Air wrote the music, Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon wrote most of the lyrics (the ones in English, anyway), and Nigel Godrich (Beck, Radiohead, R.E.M.) produced. With so many powerhouse collaborators, and her legendary father Serge casting his long shadow, is there any room left on 5:55 for Charlotte?

The answer, surprisingly, is yes. Gainsbourg's expressive, seductive whisper of a voice holds 5:55 together the way a nuanced, understated performance anchors a good movie, making everything around it better without a great deal of ornamentation or fuss. Air's lush, cocktail-lounge pop has never sounded better, and Cocker and Hannon give Gainsbourg one eyebrow-raising lyric after another, having shrewdly realized that she can deliver even the most lurid images ("deep inside the abattoir of your entrails") like a murmured endearment.

Occasionally, Gainsbourg evokes shades of her famously kitschy father, sing-speaking her way through the tormented romance of "Everything I Cannot See" or deadpanning a string a corny air travel images on "AF607105." For the most part, however, she comes across as a true original, a mix of Nico-like, avant-pop chanteuse and 21st-century torch singer. Certainly all those famous collaborators deserve some of the credit for how good 5:55 is, but Charlotte Gainsbourg is her own creation.

- Andy Hermann
04.13.07

Even though 5:55 isn't technically Charlotte Gainsbourg's first solo album (that would be Charlotte for Ever, which was released when she was 13), it is her first solo album as an adult and, with the help of a dream team of collaborators, it's a fittingly sophisticated set that touches on her father Serge's brilliantly louche, literate pop without being overshadowed by it. Air's Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin (who paid tribute to Serge Gainsbourg particularly well on 10,000 Hz Legend's "Wonder Milky Bitch") wrote 5:55's delicate music, while Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon penned its lyrics. This mingling of French and English influences is mirrored in Gainsbourg's subtly expressive voice and accent, which provides the perfect complement to the album's lush sounds and vivid imagery. On "AF607105" -- the most Air-like song here -- she's a stewardess recounting the most glamorous plane crash ever; she performs an autopsy on a relationship on "The Operation," finally stating that "the heart was rejected by the host." As good as the atmospheric heartache of the first half of 5:55 is, it's on the second half, when Gainsbourg and her crew stretch out a bit, that the album really gets interesting. "Jamais," a slightly tough, witty cautionary tale about literally acting like you're in love, is a standout, while the sexy, obsessive "Beauty Mark" and "Everything I Cannot See" would make her father proud. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide