Actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, after a traumatic water skiing accident (in which she suffered a head injury and could’ve died or been paralyzed but remained unscathed), underwent several MRI scans that led to the title of the album IRM. The title track itself paints a chilling picture of her experience undergoing an MRI scan. While that song is her most endearingly personal, the album is completely overridden by Beck’s own musical stamp, as he produced and wrote all of the songs. If you’re a Beck fan, you should be delighted with this release; if you are a Charlotte Gainsbourg fan and enjoyed her last album, it will be hard to miss the fact that the songs are just not as strong as on 5:55. This is not to say the album isn’t without Gainsbourg’s incredible charm, especially on tracks like “In The End,” a sweet orchestrated lullaby that shines with her beautiful breathy vocals swooping you up as if she’s rocking you in her arms. The album is stylized in such a way that it’s easy to spot the production influences, and Beck even goes as far as to try his hand at the symphonic pop styles of her father, Serge Gainsbourg (apparent on the track “Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes,” which is not nearly as good as what French arranger and producer Jean Claude Vannier created for Serge). Overall the album is a pleasurable listen: Gainsbourg’s heart goes into everything she does whether it’s singing or acting, but as far as material goes, she was better off with Jarvis Cocker and Air on the first release.