While not a songwriter herself, Gainsbourg knows howto pick her creative partners. Her first album, recorded when Gainsbourg wasjust 13, was conceived by her father, the infamous Serge, and her second by acommittee of Jarvis Cocker, Air, The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and producerNigel Godrich. A game of Six Degrees beginning with any of those artists willquickly bring you to Gainsbourg’s collaborator here: the genre-hopping Beck,who was brought in to compose and produce a set of songs that would allow theFrench singer/actress to cope with this life-altering event and explain her newoptimism for living life day to day.
The outside inspiration has reinvigorated Beck, whooffers some of his most earnest material since his own Sea Change and some of his most playful studio wizardry since Midnite Vultures. Together, Gainsbourgand Beck have crafted an album that sounds both harrowing and excitingaperfect representation of day-to-day life.
