In regards to reviews, Mike and I had planned to only review records that had just come out. For example, we were planning to do a review of an album the day it came out or within a week of when it had come out. However, I have realized that the abundance of work at Rutgers is quite intense and I have often missed records that I was planning on reviewing. If there was one album that I regret not yet doing a review of, it is Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM, released in mid January. IRM is mystifying in its textures, thrilling in song composition, lyrically stunning and easily one of the best records of the year.
The name of the record, which some of you have already guessed, is MRI backwards. In French, MRI is translated into IRM. This comes from the fact that Gainsbourg, a French singer/songwriter and actress, suffered a brain hemorrhage following a 2007 water-skiing accident. Gainbourg said, "I had to do so many [MRIs] and every time I was in that tube I was thinking it would make great music.” Well, you know what? She was right. The title track “IRM” creates a competition between the drowning drone of what sounds like a MRI machine and a funk drum groove. It is a perplexing formation of rhythm that works brilliantly.
I almost forgot to mention another reason why this album is fantastic; Beck wrote the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and produced the whole album. Mike has often said that “whatever Jim James touches turns to gold,” which I agree with wholeheartedly as a Jim James fan, but this also could not be truer about Beck. The man is just phenomenal. Beck joins Gainsbourg on the first single, “Heaven Can Wait,” which creates a beautiful song devoted not only to brilliant vocals, but rather this could-not-be-bothered, monotone appeal of Gainsbourgh and Beck’s vocals. It is really quite brilliant when this tone is brought to lyrics like “Heaven can wait and hell's too far to go.”
If you have read my previous post about Shugo Tokumaru’s Exit, you may recall that I explained the notion that I listen to a record for its musicality rather than its lyrics, however with this record I love the lyrics just as much as the musicality. The lyrics on IRM create marvelous imagery with such simple words. For example the first lines of “Me and Jane Doe”, my favorite song on IRM, are: “If I had my way I'd cross the desert to the sea.” The illustration created in your mind is simple, but complexly metaphoric. This combined with Gainsbourg’s languid vocals makes this one of my favorite songs of the year.
I have thought a great deal about MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art, when I have listened to IRM. This is likely because I feel like IRM is the first great “art-pop” album I have heard this year. “Art-pop” seems as a dim-witted way to describe a genre, but it can easily be just explained as belonging to more than just one sound, while still connecting to a rather high sophistication in imagery and basic song structure. There are songs on this record that are more rockin’ or bluesy than others (“Dandelion”), while there are songs that are highly elegant in sound (“Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes” – maybe it is only because French just sounds so seductive), like watching a weird French film. However, on IRM there is an underlying attachment between all the songs. It is hard to describe in words, but there are few albums that I view as great art and not just only great music. IRM is a great piece of art. I can see many people liking this album, but those who will adore IRM for years will be those “artsy” types.
Rating: 89/100
- Greg
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