Charlotte Gainsbourg - 0.2465277777777778

Released: 10/11/23 (delayed from 13/10/23)

Speaking of Air, the duo number two of the stellar artists who make up the backroom staff' of Charlotte Gainsbourg's 2006 masterpiece,5:55“ now getting a much-deserved repress (on double heavy-weight black vinyl, with original artwork and a gatefold sleeve). With Dunckel and Godin taking care of the music side of things, Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon were tasked with penning its lyrics. Oh, and some guy called Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Pavement) produced it. 

Such top draw talent doesn't always translate to success of course, but these deeply gifted individuals are so thoroughly in tune with Gainsbourg's particularvision du monde“ a curious mix of French and English sensibilities (her father was, of course the great composer and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg, while her mother was the quintessential 60s London it' girlJane Birkin, turned belovedgrande dame,who was also a brilliantactress and singer in her own right) “ that the LP is simply lightning in a bottle.5:55, then, is philosophical pop for adults, mixing chanson' playfulness and contemporary piano-driven alt-rock/pop with thrilling results, as exemplified with The Operation', on which Gainsbourg, over a razor-sharp and propulsive kraut rock rhythm, intones, Our love goes under the knife / Nothing is taboo / Here on the cutting edge of science.