{"id":4324,"date":"2019-04-12T12:05:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T17:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=4324"},"modified":"2019-12-17T20:12:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:12:59","slug":"review-charlotte-gainsbourg-the-royale-4-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2019\/04\/12\/review-charlotte-gainsbourg-the-royale-4-7\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Charlotte Gainsbourg @ The Royale 4\/7"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christian Jaeger<\/em><\/p>\n

British-French singer Charlotte Gainsbourg brought her bizarre, original sounds and pop-rock style to Boston\u2019s Royale Sunday, April 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gainsbourg, the 47-year-old actress and musician, released her fifth studio album, <\/span>Rest<\/em>, in 2017. Capturing anger, sadness, and mourning in a record, she portrays the death of her sister, Kate, and father, Serge.\u00a0<\/span>On <\/span>Rest<\/em>, she further explores her unique style, blending electro-pop, rock, and soft, whisper-like storytelling over heavy, psychedelic beats. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gainsbourg has five records under her sleeve \u2014 <\/span>Charlotte for Ever<\/em>, <\/span>5:55<\/em>, <\/span>IRM<\/em>, <\/span>Stage Whisper<\/em>, and <\/span>Rest<\/em>. Her father, French artist and icon Serge Gainsbourg, collaborated with her on <\/span>Charlotte for Ever<\/em>, forming the roots of her career in 1986.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since <\/span>Charlotte for Eve<\/em>r<\/span>, Gainsbourg became an actress, appearing in international films such as Lars von Trier\u2019s <\/span>Nymphomaniac<\/span> and <\/span>Antichrist<\/span>. After a twenty-year break, Gainsbourg released her second album, 5:55, in 2006 and has been further expanding her music career.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s concert drew Boston\u2019s French population to see their beloved artist. \u201cParles fran\u00e7ais?\u201d was easily the phrase of the night, for more than half of the concertgoers were French natives or spoke fluent French.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking the stage at 8:30 p.m. and traveling light with no opening act, Gainsbourg strutted on wearing a white tee over classic blue jeans, matching her five bandmates. She would begin at the piano for \u201cLying with You,\u201d a track off of 2017\u2019s <\/span>Rest<\/em> that demonstrates her experimental style.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, the musical act would perform three other songs from <\/span>Rest<\/em>, \u201cRing-a-Ring o\u2019 Roses,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a Lie\u201d and \u201cSylvia Says.\u201d The first is a perfectly grim take on a nursery rhyme, where \u201cI\u2019m a Lie\u201d and \u201cSylvia Says\u201d are some of Gainsbourg’s groovier tracks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBombs Away\u201d and \u201cDeadly Valentine\u201d \u2014 the artist\u2019s rock-discos \u2014 would get the non-dancers in the audience to join their jiggy, jumping neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n

On <\/span>Rest<\/em>, Gainsbourg pays tribute to her sister, Kate, who died in 2013. Gainsbourg uses narrative storytelling over a gorgeous rock melody on \u201cKate,\u201d where she whispers hauntingly over slow techno beats on \u201cRest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She took an interesting leap covering \u201cRunaway\u201d by Kanye West, an odd choice for her style and aesthetic; however, the challenge further proved her diversity in the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Long-time fans in the audience and French natives would enjoy \u201cCharlotte for Ever,\u201d a track from her first record in 1986. Gainsbourg would close her set with \u201cLemon Incest,\u201d a bizarre but beloved song by French crowds; the song \u2014 originally a duet with her father \u2014 alluded to an incestual relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gainsbourg hasn\u2019t failed to take part in controversial subject material; <\/span>Nymphomaniac<\/span> and other films reveal her fearlessness in front of a camera, and <\/span>Rest<\/span> and other records show her bravery in discussing real, raw material \u2014 some deemed unsuitable in the public eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

The artist has a good, steady history behind her and a well-paved road ahead. Gainsbourg\u2019s tour will continue until July 27, including Coachella and other music festivals.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christian Jaeger British-French singer Charlotte Gainsbourg brought her bizarre, original sounds and pop-rock style to Boston\u2019s Royale Sunday, April 7. Gainsbourg, the 47-year-old actress and musician, released her fifth studio album, Rest, in 2017. Capturing anger, sadness, and mourning in a record, she portrays the death of her sister, Kate, and father, Serge.\u00a0On Rest, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525],"tags":[733,701],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4327,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4324\/revisions\/4327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}