You will probably know Charlotte Gainsbourg for being the daughter of Serge, and for her risking her sanity, dignity etc to play the leading role in Lars Von Trier’s art-shocker Antichrist (she was duly rewarded with the Best Actress gong at Cannes).

You may also know that Charlotte is a musician and songwriter. Her recorded debut was her Lolita-esque turn on her papa’s dodgy 1984 single ‘Lemon Incest’, when she was a mere thirteen years old. A chanson-style album entitled Charlotte Forever followed in 1986; after an extended break from the studio, she moved into poppier territory for 1996’s Love Etc. Another decade elapsed before album no.3, 2006’s 5:55 – a carefully crafted record which boasted lyrics from Jarvis Cocker and Air’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin and played to the strengths of its leading lady’s gossamer-thin singing voice.

Now the 38-year-old is set to release a brand new album, IRM, via Because Music on January 25, 2010. It was recorded and produced by Beck at his studio in Los Angeles. Says Charlotte of how their collaboration began:

"We started with ‘Master’s Hands’, which has a sort of African beat and then we did ‘In The End’, which is very melodic and much quieter. ‘Heaven Can Wait’ followed, which is a much more classic pop song. So in that same [first] session we went in three different directions".

Beck adds: "I pulled a bunch of songs out. And then I wrote a few, with her in mind, but when we spent time together they changed because I got more of a feeling of where she wanted to go. We got in the studio and I could see all the possibilities."

You can download the album’s title track for free by submitting your e-mail address at charlottegainsbourg.com.