The Sigla Blog

Monade
A Few Steps More ****
If you were wondering what happened to Stereolab, their chanteuse Laetitia Sadier returns with her own flock to put you out of your misery. Away from the Stereolab stable, her Gallic charm is more pronounced on this loungey collection. The songs are sung in French and with an array of instruments including moogs, strings and percussion, this is a familiar tableau. In fact, it’s difficult to see where Stereolab ends and Monade begins. The former always favoured electro-pop ditties, but Monade, despite titles like ‘Dittyah’ and ‘Ditty Sweep’, is a slightly more sombre affair. It’s not all brooding stuff though, evidenced by ‘Das Kind’, with its rolling guitars and bouncey keyboards is a sway-along number. The off-kilter indie-pop of Wash and Dance serves as a reminder that Sadier’s unique voice has never sounded better. Perhaps due to the Siamese nature of Monade and Stereolab, there is a drift towards sameness between the two projects and indeed some of the songs here. However, it’s a enjoyable, lazy mood collection of continental pop.

Info: Too Pure