Rest

Album review

Being a settled down, cherished and serene artist certainly doesn’t prevent certain works from bursting out into much more intense moments. With this in mind, Rest is not just another album for Charlotte Gainsbourg. Rest isn’t just for the dead, but the living too! And for siestas… And the rest as well… Four years after the death of her sister Kate, she lays down all her cards on the table from her 46 years in this world. At the heart of this record we find the weight of a heavily charismatic father (Lying With You) as well as the watch of others (I’m A Lie) and recent tragic deaths (Kate), giving birth to an album with a rare emotional force. Clearly, Charlotte Gainsbourg has the gift of manipulating all this internal nitroglycerine with care. And, at any moment, we’re tempted to call the pathos police… To accompany her on this work of cathartic cambers, she has invited along Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from Daft Punk with whom she co-signed the single Rest but above all, for the rest of this fifth album, she is joined by Sébastien Akchoté a.k.a. SebastiAn, a virtuoso from the electro clan Ed Banger, who has tailored here a perfect array of instrumentals. A dress made from Gainsbourgian fabrics like never before, that Sebastian sews in his own way - modern, but not too modern… One track from a certain Paul McCartney (Songbird In A Cage) and two from Connan Mockasin (Dans vos airs and Les Crocodiles) come to complete this multifaceted work that is without a doubt the most personal by the author. © MZ/Qobuz