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Rating: Those who are old enough will remember her with her father Serge in the (then) scandalous video of "Lemon Incest" or will not have forgotten her vaguely maudit lolita face on the cover of her first true album, "Charlotte Forever", in which she performed songs composed by her famous parent.
Twenty years after that musical debut, Charlotte Gainsbourg returns, after various cameos in others' works, with a new album, "5:55", accompanied this time by an exceptional cast: the French duo Air composing the music, Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy) and Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) writing the lyrics, and the celebrated Nigel Godrich (historic producer for Radiohead and REM, and more recently working with Beck) handling production.
On her part, the beautiful Charlotte adds, beyond her undeniable charm and that air of a transgressive yet finely charming character, a minimalist vocal interpretation, with singing often almost whispered and a voice that is all too delicate, undeniably reminiscent of her other famous parent, her mother Jane Birkin, which to the less accustomed, might recall Carla Bruni of "Quelqu'un m'a dit".
The Air, for their part, attempt to replicate the successful experiment of "The Virgin Suicide", with sophisticated and uneasy soundscapes with a vaguely ambient flavor. The attempt succeeds, to be honest, only in part and not infrequently the two indulge in self-referencing almost to the point of self-celebration. Piano parts composed of five-six notes repeated ad libitum on higher or lower scales, a predominantly neutral rhythmic section evenly spread throughout almost the entire album, string arrangements (and here you can feel Godrich's hand) sumptuous and constantly present, so much so that after a few tracks you get so used to it you almost forget they're there. Certain pieces certainly stand out from this leitmotif: "The Operation" attempts to introduce some dub elements into the rhythms, while "The Song that We Sing" sounds more cheerfully pop compared to the general seriousness of the album. But in the end, the prevailing sensation is of a work devoted in every particular detail to the cult of hi-fi, a kind of extra-luxury packaging in which each of the illustrious participants is afraid of appearing less "cultured" than the others.
Ultimately, "5:55" is certainly the right album to create atmosphere during the aperitifs you organize in your downtown attic or to relax during the frequent business class flights your stressful job forces upon you if you fit into these two categories. For everyone else, simply an album that will add a snobby touch to your collection, but that you'll struggle to take out of its case more than a couple of times.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 AF607105 (04:30)
Melancholy
aviation
chocolate
perfume
cigarettes
frequent flyer
stow away
dislocation
sleeping
jets
wave goodbye
feel homesick
tranquilizers
bill of fare
cry easy
dvt
disapear into thin air
chorus
we wish you all a very happy pleasant flight
this is a journey to the center of the night
and the inflight entertainment's out of sight
here on af 607105
time difference
you're waking
chase the sun into your eyes
sleeping cities
dust hotel rooms
passengers look to the skies
fly over
your lifetime
and never touching down
my heart
is breaking
somewhere over saskatchewan
chorus
we wish you all a very happy pleasant flight
this is a journey to the center of the night
and the inflight entertainment's out of sight
here on af 607105
your life in
the wrong hands
savannah and frozen wastes
the flight path
the wingspan
below the earth rotates
i love you
i miss you
i cannot see your face
invent a
new persona
drunk here on the edge of space
all the things i carry with me
and all the things i left behind
and all the things that wait to meet me
hover in the air tonight
if i can only keep on moving
and never stop and think of me
and freefall through the years and decades
terminal velocity
chorus
we hope you had a very happy pleasant flight
this is our final destination so goodnight
like a stone we are now falling from the sky
farewell from af 607105
the cabin
is burning
i smile and feel complete
here amongst
total strangers
27 000 feet
suspended
isolation
kids throw toy planes in the street
one final
blaze of glory
viewed from a window seat
03 The Operation (03:59)
I want to explore you
i'm gonna get under your skin
so you can feel me running through your veins
i want to examine
every inch of your frame
the pressure points that cause your joy and pain
our love goes under the knife
there is no room for doubt
now i'm inside you
my hands can feel their way
further inside than i have ever been
now i can really
mess around with your heart
and fill it to the brim with broken dreams
our love goes under the knife
two lives may be saved
and if i pull this off
i'll refuse the nobel prize
instead i will look into your eyes
if i pull this off your whole body will be mine
and i'm prepared to work throughout the night
our love goes under the knife
nothing is taboo
...here on the cutting edge of science
too much information
i feel i'm getting lost
absorbed into the fibre of your soul
deep within the abbatoir
of your entrails your insides
lost in you forever far from home
our love goes under the knife
someone got too close
our love goes under the knife
the heart was rejected by the host
06 Beauty Mark (03:06)
I've got a beauty mark
written on my skin
close to my heart
my favourite part
my beauty mark
I keep it out of sight
safe from the world outside
this old battle scar
this secret part
my beauty mark
this little death
this mark of sin
forever printed on my skin
I'll keep it for you
this hidden place
this private part
this secret door into my heart
I'll keep it for you
this precious jewel
this darling bud
this tiny reservoir of blood
my beauty mark
I'll keep it for you
10 Everything I Cannot See (05:45)
I feel you all around me
you are everything i cannot see
as the ocean crawls onto the shoreline
so you lap at the edges of me
and now, as i'm walking
i know that you're watching me move
for as much as i need you
i must walk away from you
you're my life, you're my hope
you're the chain, you're the rope
you're my god, you're my hell
you're the sky, you're myself
you're the reason i'm living
you're all that i have to discover
you're the rain, you're the stars
you're so near, you're so far
you're my friend, you're my foe
you're the miles left to go
you are everything i ever wanted
and you are my lover
so i carry i carry the flowers
the flowers that are dead in my hands
they will rise up at the very sight of you
they will naturally understand
that today is the day
that we find out once and for all
now you know i must leave here
you must let me stand or fall
you're my life, you're my hope
you're the chain, you're the rope
you're my god, you're my hell
you're the sky, you're myself
you're the reason i'm living
you're all that i have to discover
you're the rain, you're the stars
you're so near, you're so far
you're my friend, you're my foe
you're the miles left to go
you are everything i ever wanted
and you are my lover
if i leave will you follow can i put my faith in you
you're my life, you're my hope
you're the chain, you're the rope
you're my god, you're my hell
you're the sky, you're myself
you're the reason i'm living
you're all that i have to discover
you're the rain, you're the stars
you're so near, you're so far
you're my friend, you're my foe
you're the miles left to go
you are everything i ever wanted
and you are my lover
and i love you now
as i loved you then
but this island life
just had to end
but you will allways be
my special friend
i will carry you with me
and we can love again
now the drizzle
soaks us to the skin
and the stars hang like a noose
so let's face this together
now this storm is finally though
you're my life, you're my hope
you're the chain, you're the rope
you're my god, you're my hell
you're the sky, you're myself
you're the reason i'm living
you're all that i have to discover
you're the rain, you're the stars
you're so near, you're so far
you're my friend, you're my foe
you're the miles left to go
you are everything i ever wanted
and you are my lover
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Other reviews
By Torre Ste
The main idea was to write in music the thoughts of a person suffering from insomnia at 5:55 in the morning, thus describing daydreams and visions of ghosts.
She provided the ideas for the drafting of the album, but above all, she contributed her whispered voice, performing the forty-two minutes of music without a flaw.
By O__O
"The poetic lyrics almost bring tears... but the melodies are so repetitive and anonymous they almost bring a smile."
"Caressing, passionate, heart-wrenching but also repetitive and anonymous: what’s left is the cover to put on display on my bedroom’s record shelf."
By O__O
A song imbued with an almost alien mood, a hypnotic rhythm that permeates the skin.
Yes, now I am happy. I have managed to find the right path again.
