Album Reviews: Stereolab - 'Instant Holograms on Metal Film'
Avant-garde virtuosos Stereolab return in style on first album in 15 years.
The songwriting duo, formed in 1990 by Tom Gane and Lætier Sadier, have been on hiatus since 2010, as members moved on to other musical projects throughout the last decade.
In 2019 they announced their first tour since then, along with reissues of several of their albums released under Warp Records, which hinted at a potential new record being released soon after.
Six years later that has come true, albeit a bit later than many fans expected, with Instant Holograms on Metal Film, their 14th studio album and their first in 15 years.
The idea for the records only came around halfway through 2023, as the band started recording from scratch, with no rehearsals whatsoever.
“Always a beginner is my attitude to things, just feeling my way through”, admits Gane, “Music is just an exciting adventure and I don’t have any trepidation about doing it or presenting it to others. What comes out comes out.”
The second track “Aerial Troubles” really sets the old gears up and running once more, with some groovy and mind-bending production. This is shortly followed up by seven-minute track “Melodie Is A Wound”, a wild ride which takes a distorted and absorbing turn towards its end.
The record includes some contributions from Copper Crain of Bitchin’ Bajas, amongst a few other mutual artists, Gane revealing that Cooper was the only person he had in mind when he first decided to work on this project.
“Transmuted Matters” feels like a journey through time, a magnificently colourful ode to the earlier Stereolab recordings which first put Gane and Sadier on the map in the alternative music scene.
From the ringing bell sounds gently pushing the crispy clean rhythm forward, to the change in drumming patterns throughout the song, all topped with Sadier’s calm and convincing vocal performance which she is so well known for, this truly feels like the group at its best once more.
On the lyrical themes explored in the album, Sadier explains: “As the world falls apart, whether we are aware of it or not, we are already planting the seeds of what will come next.
“I think it is important to keep in sight what powerful creators we are, and how there is power available to us at this stage to choose what outcome we would like to see for this yet undefined future. The words seek to expose that this is what we do: we create.”
Instant Holograms on Metal Film is out now, along with a global tour announced which includes eight dates across the UK in December.
Words by Jay Cohen
