Fictions: 20-03-2006 Paris (2006)

"Birkin has made a career of recording classic chansons and Gainsbourg songs, but on "Fictions", she's gone to another level. Along with Svengali engineer, arranger, and producer Renaud Letang she's solicited (in the same way Marianne Faithfull has in the past) original songs from a slew of contemporary artists and recorded a few well-chosen covers to create an album firmly stamped with her heart's seal of tenderness and desperation. Beth Gibbons of Portishead (who appears as a backing vocalist here on her track), Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, Gonzales, Rufus Wainwright, and Kate Bush, along with the crop of new French chanson writers. Johnny Marr plays guitar and harmonica on select cuts, with most of the instruments being played either in the flesh or via sampling by Gonzales. "Fictions" is a warm, somewhat lush and quietly dramatic recording. A quiet, nearly whimsical meditation on the fictions and realities of love, passage, and acceptance." (Thom Jurek, Allmusic, voor complete tekst: klik op link)