Rest (Charlotte Gainsbourg album)
2017 studio album by Charlotte Gainsbourg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rest is the fourth studio album by French and British singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. It was primarily produced by French electronic musician SebastiAn, and released on 17 November 2017 by Because Music and Atlantic Records. It is her first studio album in eight years, and features collaborations with Paul McCartney, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Owen Pallett and Connan Hosford, among others. The tracks "Rest" and "Deadly Valentine" were released as singles and music videos, both directed by Gainsbourg herself.
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- A.S. (Paris)
- Palestine (Paris)
- Motorbass (Paris)
- Electric Lady (New York)
- Crowdspacer (Brooklyn, New York)
- English
- French
| Rest | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 17 November 2017 | |||
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| Length | 48:23 | |||
| Languages |
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| Labels | Because, Atlantic | |||
| Producer | SebastiAn[a] | |||
| Charlotte Gainsbourg chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Rest | ||||
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The album explores the deaths of Gainsbourg's father Serge Gainsbourg and half-sister Kate Barry, with a focus on the theme of alcohol addiction. She has commented that "the album took a different direction. I wanted to express [my grief] not only with sadness but with anger."[1] The lyrics are in English and French.[1][2]
Background
When they first met, SebastiAn told Gainsbourg that he would like to work with her but that he wanted the project to be done in French, but she refused to do so. A year later, Gainsbourg, after the death of her sister Kate Barry, contacted him again and told him that she would like to say certain things and that she could only say them in French.[3] Thus, they started working on Rest in New York.[4]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.5/10[5] |
| Metacritic | 80/100[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| The A.V. Club | B+[8] |
| The Guardian | [9] |
| Mojo | [10] |
| The Observer | [11] |
| Pitchfork | 8.7/10[12] |
| Q | [13] |
| Rolling Stone |  [14] |
| The Times | [15] |
| Uncut | 8/10[16] |
Rest received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 80 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 22 reviews.[6] Olivia Horn of Pitchfork awarded the album a "Best New Music" designation, claiming "it is at once scorchingly intimate and fantastically oversized".[12] Exclaim!'s Anna Alger praised Gainsbourg for striking "a balance between sombre beauty and a mix of Euro disco, funk and pop."[17]
Accolades
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albumism | 50 Best Albums of 2017 | 11 |
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| BrooklynVegan | Top 50 Albums of 2017 | 29 |
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| Drowned in Sound | Favourite Albums of 2017 | 64 |
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| FLOOD Magazine | The Best Albums of 2017 | 5 |
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| Earbuddy | 100 Best Albums of 2017 | 13 |
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| Noisey | The 100 Best Albums of 2017 | 99 |
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| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2017 | 17 |
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| The 20 Best Pop and R&B Albums of 2017 | 5 |
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| The Independent | 30 Best Albums of 2017 | 24 |
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| The Guardian | The Best Albums of 2017 | 31 |
Track listing
All lyrics written by Charlotte Gainsbourg; all music composed and produced by SebastiAn; except where noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ring-a-Ring o' Roses" | 4:28 | |||
| 2. | "Lying with You" | 3:18 | |||
| 3. | "Kate" | 3:40 | |||
| 4. | "Deadly Valentine" | 6:04 | |||
| 5. | "I'm a Lie" | 3:29 | |||
| 6. | "Rest" |
| Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo | Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo | 3:38 |
| 7. | "Sylvia Says" |
| 4:27 | ||
| 8. | "Songbird in a Cage" | Paul McCartney | Paul McCartney | 4:32 | |
| 9. | "Dans vos airs" |
| 3:33 | ||
| 10. | "Les Crocodiles" |
| 3:17 | ||
| 11. | "Les Oxalis" | 7:57 | |||
| Total length: | 48:23 | ||||
Personnel
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Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France (SNEP)[41] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
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‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Notes
- Except "Rest", produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Additional vocal production and editing by Brian Burton on "Lying with You", "I'm a Lie", "Dans vos airs" and "Les Crocodiles".