Charlotte Gainsbourg made her first foray into the music world in 1986 with Charlotte for Ever, an album that was produced and almost entirely written by her hugely famous father. Serge left his mark on her debut, in fact, it was pretty much his record from beginning to end, his daughter just happened to be singing the words. Flash forward to the present day where, after a 20-year absence from the industry, Charlotte burst back onto the scene with 2006’s 5:55. She followed that up with the highly regarded IRM in 2009, and now Stage Whisper, a double album split between unreleased material from the IRM sessions and live cuts.
Unused session material is a tricky thing. It will almost always be glanced over, b-sides and nothing more. Ultimately this is what we’re dealing with on Stage Whisper. The leftovers are good, but they’re just that, leftovers.
That said, several of the ‘new’ tracks are definitely worth a listen. "Terrible Angels" and "Paradisco" stick out immediately, their synth pop framework much more informed by dance music than anything else Gainsbourg has done yet. "Anna" and "Out of Touch" are reserved numbers, much more in line with her previous work, and thoroughly enjoyable.
The live portion of Stage Whisper serves as an outlet for Gainsbourg’s growing confidence in front of a crowd. "Set Yourself On Fire" and "Just Like A Woman" are lovely and show just how far she has come in the past couple of years. She makes it clear throughout the record that she is not her father, and that is quite all right.
The 60-minute plus running time of Stage Whisper is equally embedded with hit and miss moments. The IRM castoffs make one wonder why that wasn’t a double LP if so much good material existed. As it stands here however, it serves as little more than a hold over until Gainsbourg’s next proper full length.
Grade: C+
~Steve Dobek
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