:: Sound-Dust

Stereolab

Stereolab has always straddled the divide of an alternate pop reality. Their love of 60’s French pop, technology and the avant-garde has always put them at the leading edge of indie-pop. However, their last album (Cobra…) was an unadventurous affair, filled with stagnant songs. It was a shock after the beauty and humour of 1997’s Dots and Loops. Sound-Dust, with a far more manageable title than the last release is almost a pure pop record. Horns feature on nearly every track, in an almost Latin 1960’s feel. Producer Jim O’Rourke has pushed the flutes, strings and horns to the front on nearly all tracks, making Sound-Dust the most organic record Stereolab have released since 1996’s brilliant Emperor Tomato Ketchup. It’s a multi-textural affair, with the vocal’s becoming almost insignificant, the band preferring to let the sound and effects take charge. This is however where the album loses some of its bite. This is not new territory for Stereolab, it’s the domain they’ve been playing in for years. The cute, French singsong vocals with the distorted synths that hover over the album feature here, without the same freshness that such effect had on Dots and Loops. The Black Arts is a standout moment, with a gorgeous vocal over a subtle backbeat, proving that Stereolab are still capable of creating a little magic. It’s a strictly lounge affair this time, with few beats or anything resembling the modern electro-pop they pioneered in the past.