Label: Duophonic UFH Disks/ Warp Records
Toby Furlong
Stereolab close a fifteen year wait as they return with magnificent new album ‘Instant Holograms On Metal Film’ and like everything they create, there is a wonder to be found in the soundscapes they craft.
The band kick things off with ‘Mystical Plosives’. The start of any Stereolab album always reminds me of the powering on of a beautiful and colourful machine with synths and analogue buzzes powering up together.
The single ‘Aerial Troubles’ contains the group’s usual penchant for abstract lyricism; it’s incredibly playful psych-pop surrounded by an array of left-field sound. It’s the sound of Stereolab we have come to view as synonymous with the group, but with an incredible refreshed energy.
‘Melodie Is A Wound’ may be the longest running track on the project, at over 7 minutes, but it never fails to reinvent itself over the runtime.
Watch the song shapeshift into a real kosmische-inspired piece of art with its Neu! and Tangerine Dream-inspired electro flourishes. Similarly, in ‘Immortal Hands’ the group have crafted something so expansive sounding and yet there is never a fear the group lack direction in the colourful soundscapes they create.
‘Vermona F Transistor’ is the group reaching art-pop perfection. I’m a huge fan of the motorik drumming that closes the song, propelling you further into this dream world where you land on planet ‘Electrified Teenybop‘. ‘Instant Holograms on Metal Film’ is a project that never rests on one sound, and ‘Teenybop..’ is a groovy switch-up with its jumped-up synth loops pulsing away sticking long in the mind.
It’s evident across the entire project, but vocalist Lætitia Sadier is equipped with an outrageously skilled vocal range. ‘Transmuted Matter‘ is one of the moments where her vocals are allowed to rise high above the dynamic instrumentation and makes for a really rich and evocative moment.
Because Stereolab depict such a dynamic and energetic world filled with electronic textures, if you contrast that with a more sombre piano track you get ‘Flashes From Everywhere’, which produces a deeply emotional moment that perhaps Stereolab aren’t typically associated with.
Signing off in the only way they know how is album closer ‘If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt.2‘; Sadier’s dreamlike reverie brings the group’s surrealist vision to a beautiful end.
‘Instant Holograms on Metal Film’ is Stereolab returning and sounding their swirling best. You, like me, will be hoping they don’t leave it so long before returning next time.
Listen to ‘Instant Holograms On Metal Film‘ here: