The progeny of famous musicians are always in a tricky position. Expectations can be ridiculously high and everything is compared to mom and/or dad. As such, it's no surprise that it's taken Charlotte Gainsbourg — daughter of the legendary Serge Gainsbourg and his muse/chanteuse Jane Birkin — approximately twenty years to follow up her last proper album, released back when she was only 13. The lyrical and visual content of her new effort "The Songs We Sing" is certainly less creepy than her best known recording "Lemon Incest," which was a dance-pop father/daughter duet with papa Serge that had a video perfectly engineered to shock or offend nearly anybody. This time the music is an approximation of her dad's famous cut "Bonnie And Clyde" and the video showcases Charlotte in a studio with collaborators and known Gainsbourg acolytes Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin of Air (not included here is Jarvis Cocker, who penned the lyrics). In the end, however, this video does a fine job proving what it has to: Charlotte inherited the musical sensibilities of her dad and, thankfully, the looks of her mom. --> watch "The Songs That We Sing"
ps: Gainsbourgphiles are encouraged to get their Ye Ye's out with DJ Melody Nelson's radio show La Decadanse on East Village Radio every Tuesday morning 8 – 10 EST. Listen by visiting EastVillageRadio.com and clicking the "tune in" button.
Charlotte Gainsbourg "The Songs That We Sing" (Vice)
Nathalie Canguilhelm, director | Soizan7e Quin5e (France), production co
