Stage Whisper is a strange and fantastic beast. Having struck gold in her collaboration with Beck on 2010’s cracking Irm. Stage Whisper sees Gainsbourg combine eight studio tracks left over from those sessions with eleven live recordings with various guest performers along for the ride. Of the eight studio recordings the first four were penned by Beck and each one is better than the last. From the spine tingling opener Terrible Angels to the wicked stomp of All This Rain it’s clear that it was not quality issues that kept this material from the public till now. Other highlights are Got to Let Go featuring Charlie Fink of Noah & the Whale and Memoir, a haunting acoustic duet with Villagers’ Conor O’Brien. The live section of the album, which was recorded on her 2010 tour in support of Irm, proves that Charlotte can rock out when needed as she adds much muscle and grunt to songs that sounded otherwise delicate on the record.

Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda