STEREOLAB - Instant Holograms On Metal Film

The history of Stereolab has been marked by an ongoing, almost situationist restlessness, perceptible in their every gesture and in each artistic and creative choice. The sense that nothing is ever left to chance is reinforced by the stubbornness with which the Anglo-French band has produced and dismantled new sonic languages. Stereolab permanently changed the common perception of that sonic universe built on groove and beat, turning it into something learned, cerebral, even forbidding, in contrast to its own nature of rhythmic sway and danceable impulses.

After a last album dated 2008, "Chemical Chords", a subsequent period of dormancy, barely disturbed by an outtakes collection and a handful of live appearances, and a return to the stage in 2019 for a series of tours devoted to remastered, expanded editions of their Warp albums, the Stereolab name seemed destined to be relegated to the past. Instead, just a few weeks ago came the announcement of a new album of unreleased material.

Stereolab's music is self-sufficient, adventurous and just original enough to withstand the inevitable accusations of immutability, and it's no surprise that the new album has met with mixed reviews from critics – a lukewarm 7 from The Wire and even a 4 from Record Collector – but anyone lucky enough to catch them on their 2022 Italian tour could confirm that, despite the long time that's passed, the Anglo-French band has lost none of its shine or its sense of modernity.

For many critics and fans of the band, one source of skepticism is the impossibility of reviving the vocal interplay between Laetitia Sadier and the late Mary Hansen, but the first new development is that, alongside new vocalist Marie Merlet (a former bandmate of Sadier's in Monade), there are now two male voices, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz. Further depth comes from the sound engineering of Cooper Crain of Bitchin Bajas, a presence that immediately recalls the post-rock scene of Chicago and John McEntire of Tortoise's contribution to Stereolab's "Dots And Loops".

The yé-yé brio of "Aerial Troubles" opens hostilities, packing into a single moment all the album's constituent elements – the four voices, the band's trademark downbeat tempo, the malleability of the rhythms and synthesizers – while reaffirming its never-dormant social and political ambitions; it's no coincidence that Stereolab have never excluded the powerful socialist manifesto of "Refractions In The Plastic Pulse" from their live sets.

The facets of "Instant Holograms On Metal Film" are quite familiar. Even the titles of the album and its thirteen tracks suggest the band prefers to stay within a comfort zone, but that impression is dispelled by the quality of the songwriting and arrangements: the sound of Ben LaMar Gay's cornet expanding the already broad stylistic boundaries of "Immortal Hands", the oscillating, contagious rhythmic and melodic swing of "Melodie Is A Wound" and the remarkable lounge-flavored psychedelic foray of "Transmuted Matter" are just a few of the many wonders that Stereolab line up in this restless, evocative imaginary soundtrack.

Anyone nostalgic for the delicious hybrids of kraut-rock, Bacharach style and tropicalia can tune their ear to the charming "If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt. 1"; the more restrained listeners can revel in the spurious prog of "Vermona F Transistor"; detractors of the band's poppier side will find plenty to chew on in the strictly instrumental fury of "Electrified Teenybop!" and the brazen futurist pastiche of "Esemplastic Creeping Eruption", finding harmonic comfort in the more wistful "Flashes From Everywhere".

It's "Le Coeur Et La Force", however, that takes the prize for the album's most atypical track, a descent into the poetic underworld of Robert Wyatt set against a Tomita-esque electronic backdrop.

On the lyrical front, the socio-political ferocity finds its fullest expression in the ironic, almost comic "Color Television", a scathing attack on the media and their role as hucksters for the masses, serving the political and economic classes; the relentless rhythm (almost a modern, Kesslerian da-da-um-pa) and the deliberately banal instrumental coda are the perfect summation of contemporary man's indifference.

Now it's up to the public, to social media, to the glut of commentary that risks leaving listeners confused. What is certain is that fans won't be disappointed, and critics will have plenty to argue over for a good twenty days, but in the end what matters is that Stereolab are back with a musically powerful record, one with no trace of routine. Listen to "Instant Holograms On Metal Film", let yourselves be charmed, and keep calm.

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23/05/2025