Charlotte Gainsbourg / Photo by Paul Jasmin

If French actress/chanteuse/pop-royalty Charlotte Gainsbourg’s last album 5:55 was a fairly conventional singer-songwriter affair, then the first taste of her upcoming collaboration with Beck promises something far more adventurous.

"IRM," the title track off the album due in January, was inspired by the brain hemorrhage she suffered two years ago -- IRM is French for MRI. (Download the song below, and watch the video explaining it.)

And sure enough, the nervous, martial percussion and rhythmic buzz proves a fair impression of being entombed in a tube having your bits and pieces magnetically scanned for things that could kill you. The lyrics are equally on-the-nose: "Take a picture/What's inside?"

Luckily, Gainsbourg’s test results turned out fine -- and so did this song. But don’t take our word for it. Get the free download and tell us what you think.