Charlotte Gainsbourgh (Photo courtesy Sonic PR)
Charlotte Gainsbourg released Rest, her fifth studio album, not long ago. The British-French actress and singer will perform at 9:30 Club on Monday, April 8.
Rest is the first album where Charlotte wrote all of the lyrics solo. And for the videos, she got behind the camera for the first time as well, explaining she was motivated by a famous director friend of hers.
Commenting on the video, Charlotte explained, “I needed a push and Lars (Von Trier) was there to help. At first I asked him if he would direct the video for me. He answered, ‘No! you should do it!’ Understanding what I required, he instructed, ‘I will tell you exactly what you must do’ and precisely dictated ‘the rules,’ which I had to follow. I nodded throughout our phone conversation while writing down the master’s principles. And that was it — the initial push I needed to go out and use the camera myself. Taking possession of the imagery, I was able to reflect my personality in the archive footage I selected or the new images I filmed. With this first directorial step, I created a repetitive language via a musical loop. I applied a similar approach to videos for other songs on the album.”
Watch the official music video for “Rest” by Charlotte Gainsbourg on YouTube:
On the album, Charlotte addresses personal topics ranging from the death of her father Serge and more recently sister Kate Barry, to the tensions between her shyness and her life as a performer and public figure, to charmingly illogical childhood fears.
In a review of Rest for The Line of Best Fit, Seb Law saw the album as a new start for Charlotte.
“As with her previous albums, Rest’s mix of breathy, intimate vocals in French and softer, English choruses continues to combine the beauty and naïveté of early Stereolab with the storytelling insight of Belle and Sebastian. Lyrically, there’s plenty to unpack. Unsurprisingly, there’s an overarching sense of melancholy, but the more you listen, the more you realize that she’s deftly poetic with her words in a way that’s clearly inspired by some of the great writers of the 20th Century,” Seb wrote.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
9:30 Club
Monday, April 8
Doors @ 7pm
$40
All ages