French singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg has collaborated with singer/songwriter Beck for her third album, “IRM,” which is due in January 2010. “IRM” began as a straight-ahead production job for Beck, but eventually took on all other aspects of the recording, including writing the music, co-writing the lyrics and mixing.
“I wrote a few, with her in mind, but when we spent time together they changed because I got more of a feeling of where she wanted to go,” Beck said in a statement. “We got in the studio and I could see all the possibilities.”
“IRM” will be Gainsbourg’s third album, following 2006’s “5:55,” an album that included guests Air, Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy‘s Neil Hannon. “5:55” has sold 22,000 in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. American audiences can also see Gainsbourg this fall starring opposite William Dafoe in “Antichrist,” a horror film slated for an October 23 release. She recently won a Best Actress award for her performance at the Cannes Film Festival.
Though Beck contributed a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” to the “War Child Presents Heroes” charity compilation earlier this year, “IRM” will be the first official release with a major Beck presence since 2008’s “Modern Guilt.”
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That said, he’s been quite active this summer with his web-only “Record Club” series, a collaborative effort between Beck and numerous artists of his choosing, where they record and recreate an album in its entirety. For his first foray, Beck tackled the Velvet Underground’s “The Velvet Underground & Nico” with actor (and brother-in-law) Giovanni Ribisi, producer Nigel Godrich and Icelandic singer Thorunn Magnusdottir. For his next installment, Beck is teaming up with Devendra Banhart, MGMT and Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale in taking on Leonard Cohen’s “Songs of Leonard Cohen.” The opening track “Suzanne” was posted last week (Sept. 4).
Wilco will also be participating in Beck’s record club, with a cover of Skip Spence’s (Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane) 1969 album, “Oar.”