Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Atmospheric., June 7, 2008
Her mother Jane Birkin added her breathy, orgasmic tones to her father Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus".
And the family resemblances are unavoidable in Charlotte's album, that voice hesitant, barely a whisper at times, but shimmering with sexiness.
What saves this album from being a lot of Gallic mumblings bound up in its own self-importance is the heavweight help the family name commanded.
The result of Gainsbourg's meeting with Nicolas Godin, one half of French electronica duo Air, at a Radiohead concert in Paris, "5:55", is a carefully crafted gem.
Charlotte's voice is as slight and breathy as her mother's, but lyrics by Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon create a hazy, Gauloise-inflected intimacy against full, string-rich arrangements by producer Nigel Godrich, those Parisian maestros of wafting electronica "Air" are on board, as is "Radiohead" producer Nigel Godrich and Nigerian percussionist Tony Allen, lauded by Brian Eno as "the greatest musician on the planet".
The title track "5:55" and the first single "The Songs That We Sing stand out", the former haunting and piano-led, the latter carrying an infectiously boisterous chorus.
At times Charlotte's thin voice and finishing-school vowels can grate, but the album as a whole is emotive, rewarding and compelling - a world away from feather-strewn beds and dodgy filial duets.
We get the mildly erotic, such as the teasing "Beauty Mark", and we get something like beat poetry in "AF607105", with its stark lines about air travel.
There's also big helpings of the kind of wistful balladeering only the French can muster.
4 * * * * and 1/2.
The Originals
Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg
Songs That We Sing
L'Effrontee
Golden Door
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice, but could have been much more, August 10, 2008
As a general rule, actresses that decide to take up singing don't usually fare too well with me. Their albums almost always come across as vanity projects, trying too hard to get attention from either the mainstream or the "hipster crowd." Knowing this, I was rather cynical when a friend recommended Charlotte's "The Songs That We Sing." This particular friend had pretty good taste and liked a lot of things that I also went for, so I tracked down the song and hoped it would be worth my time. To my surprise, it was actually pretty good! Shortly afterward, I decided to give the full album a try, hoping it would avoid the "singing actress" cliches and be as good as "The Songs That We Sing."
At first glance, there's not really much to complain about with this album. Charlotte's voice is pleasant, the music is relaxing, and most of the lyrics are pretty decent. "AF607105," "The Operation," "Little Monsters," and the aforementioned "The Songs That We Sing" even border on being great. "Everything That I Cannot See," with its swirling piano, is also a treat to hear.
However, something seems to be missing, and that keeps this disc from being more than just average. Truly fantastic albums have a certain "something" about them that keeps me coming back for more, and I don't really get that feeling with this one apart from a few tracks. Too much of this album plays it safe musically, which is a disappointment. For example, I can never really recall what "Beauty Mark," "Morning Song," "Jamais," or "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping" sound like.
Despite these complaints, this is definitely not a bad album. There are some very nice moments on here. However, I can't call it spectacular either. Perhaps it just hasn't found me in exactly the right moment to fall completely in love with it, but for now I rate it a solid three stars.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Divine Pulp Air Songs That We Sing, May 3, 2009
Teaming up with the people who brought you The Divine Comedy, Pulp and Air, Charlotte Gainsbourg delivers a shimmery collection of songs, whispered confessions and savage observations. The chimy instrumentation surrounds and enhances Gainsbourg's breathy vocals, which are sung/spoken in her delightfully "Frenglish" accent. Title track "5:55" captures that sleepless time when it's "too late to end it now, too early to start again." Bouncy single "The Songs That We Sing" sounds cheerful, but it still makes little girls "scream and run away." The "Little Monsters" who "rule the world" are scary enough (they get even bigger and scarier on Jarvis's own "Fat Children"). The theme of staying up all night returns in several places, most notably when love goes under the knife in "The Operation." It's a delicate procedure, but Gainsbourg's "prepared to work throughout the night." This is easy listening with a sharp edge.
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~ Jane Birkin
~ Serge Gainsbourg
~ Charlotte Gainsbourg
~ Serge Gainsbourg
~ Jane Birkin
album 5:55 
