Rest (Charlotte Gainsbourg album)

Rest is the fifth album by French singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. It was primarily produced by French electronic musician SebastiAn, and released on November 17, 2017 by Because Music. It is her first album release in six years, and features collaborations with Paul McCartney, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Owen Pallett and Connan Hosford, among others. The tracks "Rest" and "Deadly Valentine" were released as singles and music videos, both directed by Gainsbourg herself.

Rest
Studio album by Charlotte Gainsbourg
Released	November 17, 2017
Studio	A.S. (Paris) Palestine (Paris) Motorbass (Paris) Electric Lady (New York) Crowdspacer (Brooklyn, New York)
Length	46:23
Language	English French
Label	Because
Producer	SebastiAn[lower-alpha 1]
Charlotte Gainsbourg chronology
Stage Whisper (2011) Rest (2017) Take 2 (2018)
Singles from Rest
"Rest" Released: September 8, 2017 "Deadly Valentine" Released: September 21, 2017

The album explores the deaths of Gainsbourg's father Serge Gainsbourg and half-sister Kate Barry, with a focus on the theme of alcohol addiction. She has commented that "the album took a different direction. I wanted to express [my grief] not only with sadness but with anger."[1] The lyrics are in English and French.[1][2]

Background

When they first met, SebastiAn 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 Kate Barry, contacted him again and told him that she would like to say certain things and that she could only say them in French.[3] Thus, they started working on Rest in New York.[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.5/10[5]
Metacritic	80/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
The A.V. Club	B+[8]
The Guardian	[9]
Mojo	[10]
The Observer	[11]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[12]
Q	[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
The Times	[15]
Uncut	8/10[16]

Rest received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 80 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 22 reviews.[6] Olivia Horn of Pitchfork awarded the album a "Best New Music" designation, claiming "it is at once scorchingly intimate and fantastically oversized".[12] Exclaim!'s Anna Alger praised Gainsbourg for striking "a balance between sombre beauty and a mix of Euro disco, funk and pop."[17]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Albumism	50 Best Albums of 2017	11	[18]
BrooklynVegan	Top 50 Albums of 2017	29	[19]
Drowned in Sound	Favourite Albums of 2017	64	[20]
FLOOD Magazine	The Best Albums of 2017	5	[21]
Earbuddy	100 Best Albums of 2017	13	[22]
Noisey	The 100 Best Albums of 2017	99	[23]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2017	17	[24]
	The 20 Best Pop and R&B Albums of 2017	5	[25]
The Independent	30 Best Albums of 2017	24	[26]
The Guardian	The Best Albums of 2017	31	[27]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Charlotte Gainsbourg; all music composed and produced by SebastiAn; except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Ring-a-Ring o' Roses"				4:28
2.	"Lying with You"				3:18
3.	"Kate"				3:40
4.	"Deadly Valentine"				6:04
5.	"I'm a Lie"				3:29
6.	"Rest"	Charlotte Gainsbourg Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo	Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo	Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo	3:38
7.	"Sylvia Says"	Gainsbourg Sylvia Plath			4:27
8.	"Songbird in a Cage"	Paul McCartney	Paul McCartney		4:32
9.	"Dans vos airs"		SebastiAn Connan Hosford		3:33
10.	"Les Crocodiles"		SebastiAn Hosford		3:17
11.	"Les Oxalis"				7:57
Total length:					46:23

Personnel

Musicians Charlotte Gainsbourg – vocals SebastiAn – synthesiser (1, 2, 4, 7, 9–11), drum programming (1–5, 7–11), piano (1–3, 9–11), harpsichord (1, 7, 8, 10, 11), bells (1, 7), organ (1), synth bass (2–5, 7, 9, 10), Rhodes (2, 3, 5, 10, 11), bass guitar (7, 10, 11), Wurlitzer (7), backing vocals (7), guitars (9, 11), clavinet (11) Emile Sornin – guitars (1, 2, 5), Mellotron (1, 2, 5), bass guitar (1, 2, 5, 8, 9), clavinet (2, 5), harpsichord (2), Philicorda (5, 8), Wurlitzer (5, 8), glockenspiel (5, 8), noise (5, 8), percussion (5), tambourine (8) Alice Attal – backing vocals (3) Skyler Pierce Scher – backing vocals (3) Rachel Kay McCain – backing vocals (3) Elisabeth Sophia Seiple – backing vocals (3) Vincent Taeger – drums (4, 8, 11) Paul McCartney – guitars (8), piano (8), additional drums (8) Strings and horns SebastiAn – arrangement Owen Pallett – arrangement, conducting Nadia Sirota – fixing, viola Kabir Hermon – recording Anna Elashvili – violin Annaliesa Place – violin Laura Lutzke – violin Patricia Kilroy – violin Pauline Kim Harris – violin Rob Moose – violin Gabriel Cabezas – cello David Nelson – trombone Rachel Drehmann – French horn

Technical Tom Elmhirst – mixing (1–5, 7–11) Joe Visciano – mixing assistance (1–5, 7–11), engineering Brandon Boost – mixing assistance (1–5, 7–11), engineering Eric Chedeville – mixing (6), engineering (6) 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 (6) Laury Chanty – engineering assistance (6) Chab – mastering Artwork Collier Schorr – photos Nathalie Canguilhem – creative direction Raphaël Garnier – graphic design

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2017–18) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[28] 49 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 18 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 9 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[31] 63 French Albums (SNEP)[32] 14 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[33] 74 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[34] 38 Scottish Albums (OCC)[35] 66 UK Albums (OCC)[36] 89

Year-end charts Chart (2017) Position French Albums (SNEP)[37] 156 Chart (2018) Position French Albums (SNEP)[38] 188

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[39]	Gold	50,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

1. Except "Rest", produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Additional vocal production and editing by Brian Burton on "Lying with You", "I'm a Lie", "Dans vos airs" and "Les Crocodiles".

References

1. E.W.: In “Rest”, Charlotte Gainsbourg explores the sharp edges of grief. The Economist (2017).
2. Anna Gaca: Video: Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Rest”. Spin (2017)
3. "On a discuté avec Sebastian, de son grand retour à Frank Ocean". Konbini. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
4. Hamard, Jonathan (May 25, 2015). "Charlotte Gainsbourg à New York avec SebastiAn pour son nouvel album". chartsinfrance.net. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
5. "Rest by Charlotte Gainsbourg reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
6. "Rest by Charlotte Gainsbourg Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
7. Phares, Heather. "Rest – Charlotte Gainsbourg". AllMusic. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
8. Waite, Kelsey J. (November 17, 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rest". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
9. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (November 16, 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest review – musical chameleon finds her voice". The Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
10. Hutcheon, David (December 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest". Mojo (289): 89.
11. Mongredien, Phil (November 19, 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest review – bags of style, not enough substance". The Observer. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
12. Horn, Olivia (November 17, 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
13. Oldham, James (January 2018). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest". Q (380): 109.
14. Dolan, Jon (November 20, 2017). "Review: Charlotte Gainsbourg Takes Spacey Trip With Sir Paul, Half of Daft Punk". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
15. Hodgkinson, Will (November 10, 2017). "Pop review: Charlotte Gainsbourg; Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier". The Times. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
16. Mueller, Andrew (December 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest". Uncut (247): 27.
17. Alger, Anna (November 14, 2017). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest". Exclaim!. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
18. "ALBUMISM SELECTS: The 50 Best Albums of 2017". Albumism.com. December 1, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
19. "BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2017". Brooklynvegan.com. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
20. "Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of 2017". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
21. "FLOOD | The Best Albums of 2017". Floodmagazine.com. December 13, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
23. "The 100 Best Albums of 2017 - VICE". Noisey.vice.com. December 6, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
24. "The 50 Best Albums of 2017". Pitchfork. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
25. Katherine St. Asaph (December 19, 2017). "The 20 Best Pop and R&B Albums of 2017". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
26. The Independent Staff (November 27, 2017). "30 Best Albums of 2017". The Independent. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
27. The Guardian Staff (December 5, 2017). "The best albums of 2017: the full list". The Guardian. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
28. "Austriancharts.at – Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
29. "Ultratop.be – Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
30. "Ultratop.be – Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
31. "Charlotte Gainsbourg Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
32. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 47, 2017)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
33. "Offiziellecharts.de – Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
34. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2018. 14. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
35. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
36. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
37. "Top de l'année Top Albums 2017" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
38. "Top de l'année Top Albums 2018" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
39. "French album certifications – Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved March 7, 2018.