I first became aware of Stereolab, the ’90s English-French avant-garde pop/ synth rock group, back when I was a teenager. I was watching a documentary on Brian Eno’s musical career, specifically about Roxy Music and his solo album Here Come The Warm Jets—a record I was obsessed with and still am today—and paused the film after a list of bands that were influenced by Eno’s sound appeared in big bold letters.
One of the bands was Stereolab. I went to the record store across the street from my high school a few days later and asked them if they had anything by Stereolab. They had a new purple vinyl called Not Music for $45, or a CD called Emperor Tomato Ketchup for $7. I chose the latter, skipped Science class, lit up a joint, popped the CD in my 2000-something Pontiac Sunfire and drove around the neighbourhood just outside of my school. I was expecting some freaky art rock, based on the Eno influence, but I heard a grooving and motorik lounge music of the opening seven-minute song “Metronomic Underground.” I heard the Eno influence, but it kind of reminded me more of a rockier Popul Vuh. Then I heard Lætitia Sadier’s vocals, and it became something else entirely. She sings with this cool, yet calming and arresting demeanour, mixing English with French for a psychedelic flair. The rest of the album was a combination of ’60s pop rock, prog, and even some Brazilian jazz, with this droning orchestral flair, while songs would switch vibes at the midpoint, jumping between shoegaze, post rock, and electro. I loved it. The album became part of my rotation, and I eventually checked out the more guitar-driven Mars Audiac Quintet weeks later and also loved it.
Let’s jump 15 years later to now, as Stereolab is back from slumber with a new album called Instant Holograms On Metal Film. This album continues Stereolab’s fusion of genres, and on first listen, feels just as surprising and exhilarating as their older ’90s releases. You can tell the band really took their time with this one as the album moves at a clip, with no fluff, and Sadier’s vocals are as present as ever.
After the synthy intro called “Mystical Plosives,” we’re thrown into the smooth grooved “Aerial Troubles” and “Melodie Is a Wound,” tackling themes of systemic manipulation, but under a retro-futurist rock groove. Sadier’s voice arrives not as mere melody, but as a benevolent spectre encoded in pink light, brushing your earlobe with political theory and lunar lullabies. Horns melt over lava-lamp basslines, and you’re not sure if you’re dancing or levitating. We get the minor-keyed “Immortal Hands,” featuring some beautiful keyboard and acoustic guitar work and then arrive back at the European space lounge vibe. “Vermona F Transistor,” is probably my favourite track here with it’s jazzy flutes, toy-like synth, melting guitars, and of course, Sadier’s tempting vocals.
Stereolab is still consistently making jams you want to relive over and over again—take the video game-esque instrumental “Electrified Teenybop!” Later, we get the somnambulist rock ballads “If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream,” parts one and two. I hope this album is an introduction for some into Stereolab’s strange and groove-filled universe. Even though Emperor Tomato Ketchup will always be my favourite, probably due to nostalgia, Instant Holograms On Metal Film is an interstellar triumph.
