Charlotte Gainsbourg at Ex Theater Roppongi, April 9th 2018


Acting is her main gig, but as many before her -basically every single one of the French legendary actresses- she also has a music career. In her case, music is not an afterthought. Each of the three studio albums Charlotte Gainsbourg has released as an adult have been critically acclaimed and rightfully so.

At her show in Tokyo she showcased her latest: Rest, playing it almost in its entirety. The show started with the first few notes of “Lying With You” played on a loop until the vocals kicked in. On stage four large square frames that doubled down as lightning sources surrounded the musicians, as if they were playing inside an open cube.

The stage concept fits the somber mood of the album, that contrast lyrics about grieving with disco music. The frames on stage open their edges and, as the show progresses, go from static to blinking strobe club lights. Personally I thought it felt claustrophobic and didn’t quite work; it felt cumbersome in a Spinal Tap kind of way.

She used double tracking for her vocals in most of the songs from her latest album and kept the arrangements pretty much exactly as they sound on the record. She also stood most of the time behind her electric piano. Added to the almost pitch back darkness on stage, these factors didn’t help for the overall enjoyment of the show.

Of course there were plenty of standout moments. “Heaven Can Wait” from her previous record, sounded fierce (Beck is definitely underrated). Her best vocal performances were those in which she chose not to use double tracking. In my opinion the song “Rest” successfully balanced the electronic beats with the themes from the album and she delivered a moving performance of it on this show.

For the encore I was surprised to hear a version of Kanye West’s “Runaway”. It also sounded soulful and she was able to give the song her own personal stamp. She left the best for last, though. I’d like to think that the double tracking was to save her voice for “Lemon Incest”. She was able to reach those high notes from the original recording and to sing her version of her dad’s vocals.

Those eighties disco beats cued the end of the show after 70 minutes of music. Even though in most cases she didn’t venture far from the arrangements on the record, I left satisfied having experienced songs from one of my favorite albums of 2017 performed live.



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