Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM

Label: Elektra

Ah, la belle Charlotte. Given everything we know about her — the impeccable pedigree, the great films, the outright personification of roughly 50 years of cool French culture, all contained in that lithe figure — it can be hard to hear her music with clear, unbiased ears. But do try; she is such a great artist. Among other things, great artists surround themselves with the right people, and Ms. Gainsbourg’s musical union on IRM with Beck is a front-to-back winner. The yearning whisper-spoken vox, the pop arrangements that belong to no single era but borrow from them all, the sense of humble cool that drifts through every note…wow. Just wow. The songs are so simple, yet I’m at a loss as to how to describe a tune like “Me and Jane Doe.” Dock-side bay chantey singalong love song? Granted, in these hands, everything on IRM is a love song of one sort or another — the cosmopolitan swoon of “Time of the Assassins,” the quasi-Portisheadisms of “Master’s Hand” and “Trick Pony,” the steaming pulse of the title track…just awesome, all of it. Do get! (M.L. Thrope)