After 15 Years of Silence: Stereolab’s Magic Still Captivates Audiences

Throughout the 2010s, a recurring phenomenon was observed. From My Bloody Valentine to Slowdive, and from Mazzy Star to Ride, several bands that epitomized the sound of the nineties came back with new tracks after over a decade of inactivity or silence in the recording industry. In an era where nostalgia was repackaged in increasingly shorter cycles, everything seemed set for these groups—comprising individuals in their forties and fifties and driven by their creative urges—to both creatively and economically benefit from their cult status and, incidentally, produce some of the best songs of their respective careers.

Active until the early 2010s and notably more prolific, Stereolab joins the tail end of this trend. If Instant Holograms on Metal Film is their first album in fifteen years, led by Lætitia Sadier and Tim Gane, the Anglo-French group operates on its own schedule—contrary, much like their own songs which are pop yet labyrinthine. Unlike Slowdive, which benefitted retroactively from a sort of re-enchantment with the disenchantment of the 1990s, Stereolab never really left.

Mesmerizing Motorik Rhythms, Elevated Melodies, and Debordian Aphorisms

In this new album, there is a persistent sense that their music and message have subtly yet profoundly permeated various facets of both mainstream and alternative contemporary music—without ever fully engaging with it. It’s the enduring power of their understated yet hyper-expressive sound: Marxian or situationist library music, literally revolutionary pop.

If it’s a coincidence that Stereolab is making a comeback amidst a significant political crisis, reasserting their role as purveyors of motorik rhythms, enhanced melodies, and Debordian aphorisms, it creates a striking effect. Both a retrofuturistic mirage and a record of its time (Stereolab always contemplates the future), Instant Holograms on Metal Film picks up where Dots and Loops (1997) left off—a record that influenced artists like Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell, Madlib, and Toro Y Moi, encouraging a new generation of musicians and music lovers to dream of new musical utopias.

Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic UHF Disks/Warp/Kuroneko). Released on May 23. Live at Le Trianon, Paris, on June 4.