Charlotte Gainsbourg's 'Rest' Out Now; Named Best New Music by Pitchfork

Today, Charlotte Gainsbourg released her new album, Rest, through Because Music. Produced by Ed Bangers' SebastiAn (Frank Ocean, Kavinsky) and mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Lorde, David Bowie), Rest is Charlotte's first studio album in seven years and features collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney, Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Connan Mockasin and Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Caribou). With her new album, Charlotte unexpectedly reveals her own emotional autopsy to the listener in an uncompromising self-portrait, dissecting all of the star's wounds and frailties; every scar is exposed. For the first time, Charlotte lifts her veil, writing her own lyrics (in French and in English), often inspired by her own journals.

To accompany the album release, Charlotte has continued a series of self-directed films. The latest, entitled Charlotte By Charlotte, is both a short film and an invitation to discover, for the first time, Charlotte herself:

"Thanks to a first step into directing, I was able to take possession of my own imagery. Ensuing different music videos for quite a few of my album's songs."

Charlotte by Charlotte features videos for album tracks 'I'm A Lie', 'Lying With You' and 'Les Oxalis.' It is available exclusively on Apple Music HERE.

The eleven essays on Rest are nothing if not sure-footed, proffering a compelling fusion of gleaming, string-emblazoned modern electro-pop and cinematically textured avant-chanson - their magical music box melodies kissed by bruised, introspective, occasionally disquieting lyrics. The album opens with 'Ring a Ring a Roses' and ends with the electro-disco-flavored 'Les Oxalis'. In between, there's 'Lying With You', whose busy drums and angular synths frame a lyric about Serge Gainsbourg's death; the frank, self-examining 'I'm a Lie;' the rife with funk flourishes 'Sylvia Says;' and the wonderfully Giorgio Moroder-esque 'Deadly Valentine,' whose lyrics, essentially a string of uncannily delivered wedding vows, play out against a motorik Euro-disco beat and soaring strings. Another essay, 'Songbird in a Cage,' was penned for Charlotte by Sir Paul McCartney, no less. "We had a very nice lunch about six-and-a-half years ago," she recalls. "I told him that if he ever had a song for me it would be a dream come true. A few weeks later he sent this track. Paul very sweetly came to Electric Lady. He did a bit of piano, some bass, a bit of guitar. It was incredible, just to see him work."

The aides-de-camp may have played their role on Rest, but it remains undeniably the work of a singular artist. "This time it felt like flying on my own. I knew I needed the right collaborator, and SebastiAn was always there, but all the same, this time the album is really mine".

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