''Rest'' is the fifth studio album by French singer and actress

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British and French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French singer Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the ...

. It was primarily produced by French electronic musician

SebastiAn Sebastian may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Saint Sebastian, a Christian saint martyred in the 3rd century * Sebastian of Portugal (1554–1578 ...

, and released on 17 November 2017 by

Because Music Because Music is a record label based in France. The label was founded in 2004 by Emmanuel de Buretel and Eric Bielsa upon their exit from major labels. Because Music has acts such as Justice, Christine and the Queens and Aime Simone on their r ...

and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. It is her first album release in six years, and features collaborations with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo (; born 8 February 1974) is a French musician. He is known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bangalter. He has produced several works from his now-def ...

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett-Plowright (born September 7, 1979), known professionally as Owen Pallett, is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their former pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music P ...

and

Connan Hosford Connan Tant Hosford, better known by the stage name Connan Mockasin, is a New Zealand musician, composer and record producer. Described as "a psych-funk oddball...a contrarian", Mockasin played a role in the contemporary crossover of psychedeli ...

, among others. The tracks "Rest" and "Deadly Valentine" were released as singles and music videos, both directed by Gainsbourg herself. The album explores the deaths of Gainsbourg's father

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

and half-sister

Kate Barry Margaret Catherine Moore Berry (November 29, 1752 – September 29, 1823) operated as a scout and guide for Brigadier General Daniel Morgan during the American Revolutionary War. Morgan learned that General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornw ...

, with a focus on the theme of

alcohol addiction Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

. She has commented that "the album took a different direction. I wanted to express y griefnot only with sadness but with anger."E.W.: In “Rest”, Charlotte Gainsbourg explores the sharp edges of grief. The Economist (2017)

/ref> The lyrics are in English and French.

Background

When they first met,

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

, contacted him again and told him that she would like to say certain things and that she could only say them in French. Thus, they started working on ''Rest'' in New York.

Critical reception

''Rest'' received acclaim from music journalism, music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 80 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 22 reviews. Olivia Horn of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' awarded the album a "Best New Music" designation, claiming "it is at once scorchingly intimate and fantastically oversized". ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

''s Anna Alger praised Gainsbourg for striking "a balance between sombre beauty and a mix of Euro disco, funk and pop."

Accolades

Track listing

All lyrics written by

; all music composed and produced by

; except where noted.

Personnel

;Musicians *

– vocals *

– synthesiser , drum programming , piano , harpsichord , bells , organ , synth bass ,

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, bass guitar ,

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

, backing vocals , guitars ,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

* Emile Sornin – guitars ,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, bass guitar , clavinet , harpsichord , Philicorda , Wurlitzer ,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

, noise , percussion , tambourine * Alice Attal – backing vocals * Skyler Pierce Scher – backing vocals * Rachel Kay McCain – backing vocals * Elisabeth Sophia Seiple – backing vocals * Vincent Taeger – drums *

– guitars , piano , additional drums ;Strings and horns * SebastiAn – arrangement *

– arrangement, conducting *

Nadia Sirota Nadia Sirota (born in New York City, New York) is an American viola player. Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and Conducting, conductor. Life and career Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo ...

– fixing, viola * Kabir Hermon – recording * Anna Elashvili – violin * Annaliesa Place – violin * Laura Lutzke – violin * Patricia Kilroy – violin * Pauline Kim Harris – violin *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connec ...

– violin * Gabriel Cabezas – cello * David Nelson – trombone * Rachel Drehmann – French horn ;Technical *

Tom Elmhirst Tom Elmhirst (born 8 June 1971) is a British mix engineer. He has worked with artists including Adele, Beck, David Bowie, Cage the Elephant, Lady Gaga, Residente, and Amy Winehouse, among many others. Elmhirst has received numerous accolades ...

– mixing * Joe Visciano – mixing assistance , engineering * Brandon Boost – mixing assistance , engineering * Eric Chedeville – mixing , engineering * Sebastian – engineering * Emile Sornin – engineering * Julien Naudin – engineering * Antoine Poyeton – engineering * Drew Brown – engineering * Phil Joly – engineering * Beatriz Artola – engineering * Joakim Bouaziz – engineering * Gus – engineering * Florian Lagatta – engineering * Laury Chanty – engineering assistance * Chab – mastering ;Artwork *

Collier Schorr Collier Schorr (born 1963 as Patrice) is an American artist and fashion photographer best known for adolescent portraits that blend photographic realism with elements of fiction and youthful fantasy. Schorr grew up in Queens, New York and studied ...

– photos * Nathalie Canguilhem – creative direction * Raphaël Garnier – graphic design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Charlotte Gainsbourg albums Atlantic Records albums Because Music albums Albums produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo Albums produced by Sebastian (French musician)