IRM is the third studio album by French electropop singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, with all songs written and produced by Beck except "Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes" (written by Jean-Pierre Ferland). The album title was inspired by the French initialism for an MRI scanner. The title track was released as a free download on 9 October 2009. The album was mostly recorded at Beck's home studio in Los Angeles, California. The lead single is "Heaven Can Wait", a duet with Beck, and was released on 2 November. The music video for "Heaven Can Wait" was directed by Keith Schofield and was released on 19 November 2009. The video for "Heaven Can Wait" was named one of the Top 20 best music videos of 2009 by Spin Magazine.

"Trick Pony" is featured in the football video game by EA Sports, FIFA 11 and the Amazon Prime Video drama series My Lady Jane.

According to Gainsbourg, IRM "was Beck's view of what I had gone through, and not mine."

In 2012, it was awarded a Diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association, which indicated sales of at least 200,000 copies throughout Europe.

Reception

The album currently has a Metacritic score of 80/100 based on 21 professional reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

Note "La Collectionneuse" contains extracts from Guillaume Apollinaire's Alcools and Le Guetteur mélancolique poem collections.

Personnel Musicians Charlotte Gainsbourg – vocals (all tracks), flute (track 10), piano (13) Beck Hansen – guitar (1, 3, 5–7, 9–11), drum programming (1, 2), vocals (2, 3, 5, 6, 8–10, 13), bass guitar (2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 12), synthesizer (2, 3), percussion (3, 5, 6, 9, 10), piano (3, 5, 10), acoustic guitar (4, 8, 12); marimba, recorder (6); keyboards (12), keyboard bass (13) David Campbell – string arrangements, conductor (1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11–13) Drew Brown – drum programming (1, 2), bass guitar (1), string arrangements (2), effects (12, 13); keyboards, strings (13) Matt Mahaffey – banjo (1) Justin Meldal-Johnsen – percussion (1) Joey Waronker – drums (2, 3, 6, 8, 10–12), percussion (2, 3, 6, 10, 12) Brian LeBarton – drums (2), celeste (4, 10), bass guitar (5, 10), percussion (5, 6, 12, 13), tambourine (5), marimba (6), synthesizer (8), drum machine (10), piano (11) James Gadson – drums (2, 3, 13) Matt Sherrod – drums (2, 5) Alex Acuña – percussion (2, 12) Bram Inscore – bass guitar (4, 7, 8, 11), celeste (4) Jason Falkner – acoustic guitar (4), guitar (8) David Ralicke – saxophone (5, 11) Matt Demeritt – tenor saxophone (5, 11) Chris Bautista – trumpet (5, 11) Monique McGuffin – harp (7) Alice Attal – voice (10)

Technical Beck Hansen – production Bob Ludwig – mastering Drew Brown – mixing, engineering Darrell Thorp – mixing, engineering Rouble Kappor – engineering assistance Wesley Seidman – engineering assistance

Artwork Nathalie Canguilhem – art direction Audrey Prudhomme – design Fouad Allaoui – design Raphaël Garnier – design Autumn de Wilde – photography Jean-Baptiste Mondino – photography Nick Knight – photography Paul Jasmin – photography

Charts Chart (2009) Peakposition Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) 8 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) 35 Canadian Albums Chart 27 Danish Albums Chart 39 French Albums Chart 4 Greek Albums Chart 13 Swedish Albums Chart 46 Swiss Albums Chart 28 UK Albums Chart 62 US Billboard 200 69 US Billboard Top Rock Albums 16 US Billboard Top Digital Albums 25 US Billboard Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums 11 US Billboard European Albums Chart 73

Release history Region Date Label Format Catalogue Belgium 4 December 2009 CD France 7 December 2009 Because Music CD Switzerland 7 December 2009 CD Canada 8 December 2009 Warner Music CD Germany 11 December 2009 CD Brazil 22 January 2010 CD 825646842476 United Kingdom 25 January 2010 Because Music CD BEC5772602 CD+DVD BEC5772603 LP BEC5772607 United States 26 January 2010 Elektra CD Argentina 11 February 2010 Warner Music CD

Sunset Sound EP On 13 April 2010, Gainsbourg released a five-track EP called Sunset Sound EP, which contains four songs from IRM recorded live at Sunset Sound Recorders with Beck Hansen.

Promotional tour To promote IRM, Gainsbourg embarked on her first live tour by performing at several venues, music festivals and television shows in North America, Europe and Asia. 9 December 2009 – Taratata on France 2 10 December 2009 – Le Grand Journal on Canal+ 11 December 2009 – Taratata on France 4 19 January 2010 – The Bell House, Gowanus, Brooklyn 20 January 2010 – The Bell House 22 January 2010 – Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia 22 January 2010 – Late Show with David Letterman 23 January 2010 – Exclusive concert and interview for Canal+ (France) 23 January 2010 – The Hiro Ballroom, New York City 28 January 2010 – Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW 11 April 2010 – Vogue Theatre, Vancouver 12 April 2010 – Elemental Night Club, Victoria, British Columbia 14 April 2010 - Live performance on KEXP-FM 14 April 2010 – Crocodile Cafe, Seattle 15 April 2010 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, Oregon 17 April 2010 – Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco 18 April 2010 – Coachella Festival, Indio, California 21 April 2010 – Park West, Chicago 23 April 2010 – Olympia, Montreal 24 April 2010 – Olympia, Montreal 25 April 2010 – Webster Hall, New York City 14 June 2010 – Le Cargo, Caen 15 June 2010 - La Coopé, Clermont-Ferrand 16 June 2010 - La Cigale, Paris 19 June 2010 - Cirque Royal, Brussels 20 June 2010 - Aeronet, Lille 22 June 2010 - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London 24 June 2010 -Les Nuits de Fourvière, Lyon 27 June 2010 - Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg 28 June 2010 - Volksbühne, Berlin 29 June 2010 - Malta Festival, Poznań 2 July 2010 - Eurockéennes, Belfort 3 July 2010 - Den Atelier, Luxembourg City 4 July 2010 - Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux 8 July 2010 - La Cigale, Paris 9 July 2010 - La Cigale, Paris 10 July 2010 - Les Ardentes, Liège 13 July 2010 - Théâtre J Deschamps, Carcassonne 14 July 2010 - Traffic Festival, Turin 15 July 2010 - Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, Benicàssim 16 July 2010 - Les Francofolies de La Rochelle, La Rochelle 18 July 2010 - Latitude Festival, Southwold 24 October 2010 - Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo 26 October 2010 - IMP Hall, Osaka

References

External links Official site Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM (CD, Album) at Discogs