Charlotte Gainsbourg preps 'Rest,' shares title track co-written by Guy-Manuel from Daft Punk
Charlotte Gainsbourg is back with her first album in seven years. (Her last was 2010’s Beck-produced IRM.) It’s titled Rest and will be out November 17 via Because Music (cover art is above). She made the bulk of the album with producer SebastiAn (Frank Ocean, Kavinsky), though the album’s title track was co-written with Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and “Songbird in a Cage” was written by Paul McCartney. The album also features appearances by Owen Pallett, Connan Mockasin, and others.
“Rest” is the first single from the album. “Those were the first words that I actually sang on the album,” Charlotte says. “I came in with all my bunches of lyrics…It was too much, really, and Guy-Man was saying, ‘you can’t say all that, you have to simplify it,’ and he reduced it to three words! It felt so innocent in a way, but it was exactly what I needed at that time.” It’s a gentle, pulsing track and you can listen to it below.
Charlotte directed the “Rest” video herself after consulting with filmmaker Lars Von Trier with whom she has worked a few times (Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac):
At first I asked him if he would direct this video for me. He answered, ‘No… you should do it.’ He then said, knowing very well what I needed, ‘I will tell you exactly what you must do.’ He dictated quite precisely ‘the rules’ for me to follow. I was nodding through the telephone while writing down the master’s principles. And that was it—the first push I longed for. To go out, and carry a camera for myself. Up to me to deliver my personality in either the archive footage I was choosing or the new images I filmed. Trying to create a repetitive language through this musical loop. Thanks to this 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.
You can watch a preview of that video, which features clips from classic cinema, and check out the album’s tracklist, below
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Charlotte Gainsbourg — Rest tracklist:
1. Ring-A-Ring O’ Roses
2. Lying With You
3. Kate
4. Deadly Valentine
5. I’m A Lie
6. Rest
7. Sylvia Says
8. Songbird In A Cage
9. Dans Vos Airs
10. Les Crocodiles
11. Les Oxalis
