Monade
A Few Steps More

Monade is, practically, Laetitia Sadier, the female and Francophone part of Stereolab.
The new "solo" album compared to Socialisme ou Barbarie is definitely a few steps closer to the production of the original group, thus bringing back the fresh, almost psychedelic, and so sixties melodic progressions, showcasing brass, keyboard layers, and guitars with the typical Stereolab sound. This time, however, there's no long ride into the outer space as "the groop" had accustomed us to, quite the opposite. This album is, in fact, in a way an intimate work, drawn with a precise brush but with an essential stroke and intrusive pastel colors: we like to imagine Laetitia lying down, as in the famous poster, while David Hemmings takes her photographically (oh, if only I could write this passage in French or English!) as in an impossible deleted scene of Blow Up.

The album: noteworthy is "2 Portes 7 Sept Fenetres", which begins like a slow (this term isn't used anymore, is it?) and then becomes a sort of intimate lounge track thanks to a change of tempo and the insertion of a perfect little bossa percussion. The single (?) is "La salles des pas perdus": it's the perfect (predictable?) Stereolab-style pop single where Laetitia's ineffable voice immerses itself among small keyboard rides and an opening guitar that, for some reason, reminded me of CSI. "Pas Toujours, Encore" is a lovesong that everyone, absolutely everyone, should wish to be dedicated to them. "Becoming" is perhaps the melodic gem of the album where Laetitia first launches into scientifically inattentive and slightly out of tune vocalizations and then closes the track with subdued tones as if awaiting a song's explosion that, however, never comes...

An excellent novelty: it's tremendously better recorded compared to the previous "Socialisme Ou Barbarie". I loved the brevity of this album and its so similarity to a Stereolab work, hence a great purchase to enter their world or an album for fans only...