Album Review: Charlotte Gainsbourg - Stage Whisper

With two studio albums under her belt (three if you include 1986's Charlotte Forever), Serge's daughter releases her latest offering. Following her excellent Jarvis Cocker and Air collaboration, 5:55, and the even better, Beck-helmed IRM, her latest LP is actually a coming together of unreleased songs and live recordings.

First things first, we can pretty much dismiss the 11 live tracks that make up the latter section of the hour-long album. Gainsbourg's stage presence and live vocal are not especially mesmerising, and it's hard to see what anyone would get from hearing these takes of the likes of IRM or The Songs That We Sing. Even hardcore fans of the singer/actress would surely prefer listening to the beautifully produced originals rather than these rather limp versions.

However, within the eight unheard studio tracks, there is some real magic. The first four tunes are penned by Beck and are stunning. Opener Terrible Angels bursts with fuzzy electro-pop and Gainsbourg's vocal – deliberately distant, emotionless – is perfect in this environment. Next Paradisco sees a far softer delivery over a New Order-esque funky bassline. In contrast to such thrilling moments, the four non-Beck studio tracks feel slightly pedestrian. For instance, rather than throbbing beats, Got To Let Go, written alongside Charlie Fink of Noah & The Whale, offers a rather meandering vocal melody.

So, there is some gold within the first part of Stage Whisper, but surely, rather than tagging on a bunch of uninspiring live efforts, this should have been released as an eight-track mini-album. Were this the case, it would certainly have had far greater impact and been a much more satisfactory listen.