Search - Jane Birkin :: Lolita Go Home

Bouyant Jazz a la Francaise

groucho | Chapel Hill, NC, USA | 01/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Before my interest in vocal and cabaret jazz, and yes even before I got so intense with mainstream instrumental jazz, I used to listen to Serge Gainsbourg's psychedelic albums that are now called lounge music. More refined thanEsquivel, Gainsbourg pushed the envelope further than anyone in the pre-Vietnam era. So its not surprising to hear his actress wife and English import Jane Birkin sing his songs. Birkin has a kittenish voice that tends to get thin in the upper registers yet not appear as if she is vocally wanting. She can be in sync with much of the Gainsbourg songs notably the title track, and also make musical statements via Cole Porter and Irving Berlin rendered a la Gainsbourgiana. The result is a heady mix of the nostalgic clink of what made most post-Mod music intoxicating as well as a testament as to how the whole Birkin image was built. This album is not for anyone who wants a song sung straight, or those who do not dig summer-at-Ibiza music. This is mood music and when played appropriately (3:30pm to about 4:45pm -- as long as there is a late scorching afternoon sun), it can be truly hypnotic."