Terrible Angels

After collaborating on her 2010 album *IRM*, Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg joined forces again for the title-track to her 2011 *Terrible Angles* EP. Beck’s Midas touch is immediately noticeable from the beginning as “Terrible Angels” begins with Gainsbourg cooing over skittering videogame bleeps and blips before a big, booming bass drops under programmed beats and a jangly tambourine. Floating above all these groovy mechanics, Gainsbourg’s lilting inflections squeeze subtle hints of emotion through a demure cool. The acoustic-based “Memoir” is much easier on the ears as she whisper-sings preciously over simple guitar strumming and minimal ambient accompaniment. Written by Conor O’Brien (Villagers), “Memoir” finds Gainsbourg inadvertently recalling some late-‘60s recordings by Claudine Longet. A forerunner to *Stage Whisper*, Gainsbourg’s double album of live and unreleased material, the EP is bookended with two live recordings; an over-the-top version of “IRM” followed by a beautifully intimate acoustic rendering of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” replete with spare glockenspiel.