Kevin Bronson on July 21st, 2018

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On a Fonda Theatre stage set with starkly illuminated white squares and rectangles, French singer-songwrtiter Charlotte Gainsbourg gave a poignant concert Friday night, dedicating the night to her late half-sister Kate Barry. Gainsbourg’s sibling was also one of the inspirations for her latest album, “Rest,” released in November.

Playing with a new group of five backing musicians, Gainsbourg performed all but one song from “Rest.” She introduced “Sylvia Says” by acknowledging author Sylvia Plath, whom she loves, and saying that she “stole” some of her words. After she sang “Kate” and “Charlotte For Ever,” she acknowledged that those were her father Serge’s songs and they were her childhood.

Before the band returned for a two-song encore — her cover of Kanye West’s “Runaway” and “Lemon Incest,” the 1985 song on which she dueted with her father — someone in the crowd yelled “Happy birthday!” Gainsbourg turned 47 today.

Set list: Lying With You, Ring A Ring O’Roses, I’m A Lie, Heaven Can Wait, Songbird, Sylvia Says, Songs That We Sing, Paradisco, Les Crocodiles, Deadly Valentine, Kate, Charlotte For Ever, Rest, Remarkable Day, Les Oxalis. Encore: Runaway, Lemon Incest

Photos by Andie Mills