Stereolab, like the many reformed groups of today, are spurred on by social change. Fifteen years on from their hiatus and they returned, seemingly with something to say. Instant Holograms on Metal Film is that something. Step into the lab and get to listening. Long-dormant groups like Stereolab can go on to offer some career-best works because, while in their hibernation, they are quietly itching the creative urge. The electrified, art-rock-like intensity Stereolab brings through Instant Holograms on Metal Film is of an exceptional quality. Another band affected by the horrors of the modern day. No excess will hide this shame, no adaptation can fix the hearts of those carried away by modern times. Instant Holograms on Metal Film holds well with its defiant tone, with its ghostly voices and interjections, heard throughout this, their first studio album since Not Music. These extreme days, the fear which guides the experience, are unpacked well by Stereolab.
What are we to do when, as the band notes on Melodie is a Wound, we are “muzzled by the powerful”? A reunion spurred on by the ever-shifting horrors of the real world. Instant Holograms on Metal Film is not just an act of defiance but a chance for Stereolab to share their thoughts. They have no doubt evolved over the last decade and a half. Listeners can hear the group at their very best on efforts like Immortal Hands, a groove-laden thrill. But that is the very baseline for Stereolab’s creative urgency. We can feel the emotional range from instrumental alone, though the vocal additions made by Lætitia Sadier are essential. Le Coeur Et La Force has the band cautiously advise their listeners take stock of what they can always hold. Strength and heart, the courage to continue. Those blissful instrumentals, the soft suggestions these saxophone-featuring tracks make, are clear. But it is in this clarity that we begin to second-guess ourselves, doubt the very fundamentals we are holding to.
Sound collage thrills are what Stereolab maintains so well, the mood and feeling of their music blessedly consistent. There is no sense of “we told you this would happen,” found in Instant Holograms on Metal Film, not because Stereolab had a clue what was to happen, but because listeners, inevitably, shuffled back to them for guidance on their return. They are pioneers all the same, but there is an expectation for answers. They do not have any, naturally, and an Anglo-French partnership cannot solve problems, just create nice sounds. Even at their most laid back, Stereolab sounds as urgent as modern times would call for. Those floaty vocals heard on Transmuted Matter give Stereolab the intensity they are chasing, and yet they still maintain the lighter touch, a welcoming, calming flourish.
Instant Holograms on Metal Film has a subtle quality to it, which comes from the overlap in tone from song to song. Those barely audible shifts in tone, the medley which comes because of those subtle touches, make this Stereolab release feel like a gargantuan long play. What joy there is to be had with Stereolab is not what the future may hold, but what the past can still give. Sound loops, synthesisers, the subtle expressions which come from those well-used tools is what at the forefront of Instant Holograms on Metal Film. We would do well to learn from these tech-addled tones, because they speak with more of a human touch than most do these days. Stereolab returns not with a proclamation, but a scattering of intense, interesting instrumentals we can apply our own meanings and doubts to.
