Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM (2010) [Elektra/Asylum] // Grade: A

Those of you who’ve been waiting for a new Beck album will want to check out Charlotte Gainsbourg’s newest, IRM. Handling not only the production but also the mixing, writing and even backing vocals, IRM is as much, if not more, a Beck album than a Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg plays the role of muse for Beck, but you get the feeling that it’s the ghosts of her parents, French pop legends Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, that Beck truly wishes to court via IRM.

Fortunately, what could have been a formula for a total disaster of a release is saved by Gainsbourg’s inborn talent for creating an intimate world that sucks you in, grips you hard and then lets you go to wander with wonder. She’s shown this talent time and again across her film career and while IRM is only her third album, she possesses both the panache and the smarts to take her music career in whatever direction she chooses to steer.

Allowed to helm the reins creatively, Beck’s imprint on IRM is unmistakeable. Beck’s 2002 album Sea Change, was heavily influenced by Serge Gainsbourg and he’s referenced much of it’s style in his work on IRM. “Trick Pony”  and “Dandelion” stand out as the two most traditional Beck-sounding numbers, drawing on his predilection for fuzzy guitar and the blues. But despite dipping his hands in nearly every aspect of IRM, Beck never overpowers Gainsbourg and she shines in breathy near-whispers across personal tales.

IRM is a wonderfully balanced release that speaks to both Beck and Gainsbourg’s maturity. By the album’s closing/bonus track, “Looking Glass Blues”, Gainsbourg eschews the title of muse in favor of artist.

- Scrooge McFuck