Laetitia Sadier goes solo

Saw a brief mention the other day and the full PR note just got sent out:

LAETITIA SADIER releases first solo record, The Trip - September 21, 2010

Laetitia Sadier may forever be linked with indie stalwarts Stereolab which she fronted with ex-partner Tim Gane for nearly 20 years. But now she is releasing her first ‘official’ solo record, The Trip, which follows Stereolab’s self-imposed hiatus and the disbanding of Monade, her original solo project that grew into a band.

The album features a band and musical collaborators, including Richard Swift and April March and French musicians Julien Gasc and Emmanuel Mario, who also collaborated on the final Monade album Monstre Cosmic. The songs were recorded in two separate sessions – in the UK and America - by Mario and Swift respectively. One Million Year Trip, the opening track, deals directly with her sister’s suicide and Sadier’s attempt to grieve and understand her loss:

At the heart of my loss my little sister's voice,
Forever muted, inaudible, inert
She went on a million year trip
And left everything behind - her skin, her hair
She has a long way to travel so I will open my heart
And let the pain run along as there is no point in holding on

Among Sadier’s own songs are three covers, including Wendy & Bonnie’s By The Sea and Les Rita Mitsouko’s dance-funk-punk classic Un Soir Un Chien from the mid-80s and featured in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1987 film, Soigne Ta Droite.

As a solo artist, she explains she can approach song-writing in a different way: In Stereolab, the lyrics came second and were always to fit Tim’s music and not the other way around. I don’t have that creative tension with Tim anymore, and I’m finding that very liberating, she concludes.

Ned, am gonna re-post this elsewhere if that's OK. What's the exact source pl.? Pikey always gets upset when ppl announce things w/o checking with the management first.

Came directly from a Drag City press mailout just now so if he wants to complain he better talk to the label!

s'cool, I just wanna cover *my* ass when I re-post

"Un soir un chien" is a real nice song (no surprise there, it's Les Rita Mitsouko in the 80s):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDOOi4fdbI

I lost interest in Stereolab for a while, but I caught them live shortly before they split up and thought they were awesome. Will check this out.

Sweet! I'm very excited about this!

Stereolab direct reference to Rita long overdue (maybe they felt it'd be too obvious seeing how big they are in France) but Sadler's going to sound just like herself covering that one, can't wait to hear it

how great would it be to hear Sadler & Ringer sing on the same track? matter & antimatter

Yeah, I guess Stereolab never really admitted any 80s influence.

they definitely had their notebooks out for some Rita tracks like "La Histores d'A"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9PWVm0wEQ

been on a RM kick again recently, every year when I go back to youtube to get my 'Petit Train' fix, people have uploaded more insane european TV appearences

I wonder whether this solo album will be much different than Stereolab and Monade. Monade started out as a Laetitia solo project and became a full band over time. They always sounded to me like just a mellower, more naturalistic version of Stereolab. Musically, pretty much all of Monade's tracks sound like they could have been written by Tim Gane. I wouldn't exactly mind it if this new album were a complete break from the Stereolab style.

According to a friend, years ago at a Stereolab show a mutual friend of ours called out for AC/DC's "Ballbreaker" as a cover, leading Ms. Sadier to say politely "We're not going to do 'Ballbreaker.'" Perhaps she has remembered that and decided now is the time for cock rock.

not really sure "Un Soir Un Chien" is dance-funk-punk

great song though

^i was gonna say

When did Laetitia and Tim Gane split?

Years ago. (Seriously, years ago.)

Didn't know about her sister ... sad! Seems like she's had a tough decade or so ... always such a luminous, bright presence onstage, though.

There's a track out on a split we did for Wool Recs too (no spam). It's great.

i hope it's better than those monade albums - yawn

wow never heard of RM before that's some good shit

At the risk of turning this thread into a Rita Mitsouko one, this is probably my favourite video ever and amazingly the most-played song in the history of French radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6FVlfOgTo8

RM are a top 10 band for me, I think.

holy shit every 5 seconds there's something insanely awesome/wtf happening in that!! thx man

check out "Andy" as well

yeah, that youtube track is insane

OMG I want to live in that video.

Yeah Les Rita are pretty much one of the greatest bands never to be famous in the Anglophone world, sadly. One of a few ILM threads here:

les rita mitsouko

Their biggest friends/boosters in said Anglophone world are Sparks, which is so not a surprise.

xpost you can turn this into a RM thread all you like, no one ever bumps the actual RM threads

more video links - http://coilhouse.net/2010/06/les-rita-mitsouko/

Thanks Milton, I think I've found art-pop nirvana! Every one of those videos is filled with playful Gallic insanity.

Never really got into stereolab, but this album is really great. Love her vocal style.

Key lesson I've learned from this thread is that Les Rita Mitsouko are fantastic and I'm a fool to have remained unaware of them for so long. Many thanks to seandalalai for posting the Marchia Baila video. it's a thing of wonder.

i love it that despite the fact that she is a good looking person, the cover looks like this:

http://www.playgroundmag.net/f/photos/noticias/laetitia_sadier_cover.jpg

Really like the cover. Without the text, it's almost like a still from an german expressionist film or something....very Goth.

srsly, how did I never know about Les Rita Mitsouko before?

I think the cover is awful, a tad lilith fair for my taste. I'm fond of Stereolab so Big Hoos statement upthread worries me. What sort of sound is she pursuing over here? Can I get a second opinion from Stereolab fans?

I like Stereolab and it's not too different a sound. I was worried it'd be her & acoustic guitar chords or something but it's not. It's a very sad album though!

She sings the same way she sings in Stereolab & the backing band is solid.

its less experimental, more twee and simple than stereolab.
it's ok.
not the best thing ever, nor the worse.

"The album features a band and musical collaborators, including Richard Swift and April March"

yeah, the first thing that came to my mind was the April March and Los Cincos record.

Saw her play on Friday evening, was surprised it was *just* her, totally solo, on guitar only. It was great though. Dropped in a sweet 'International Colouring Contest' too. Very well received.

jealous

yeah i saw that too. it was good, i imagined she'd have a few moogs in tow at least. she was a charming hostess too.

New 4-song session posted online yesterday:
http://droptunemedia.com/band/Laetitia%20Sadier

those are nice, thanks for posting...interesting that she's playing totally solo, it sounds good! a record along those lines would be welcome, might actually help her differentiate the solo career from stereolab a bit more.

I saw her playing solo and then heard her record. I thought the live thing was better. I got the sense she is maybe a bit limited as a guitar player, but she was nevertheless using that to play these interestingly mininmal guitar lines against the vocals.

Listening to Silencio album now

i like silencio! not blown away, but it is solid.

Solid I guess. Nothing new and different but she's got her schtick down.

I had no idea that "By the Sea" was a cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwHw6jo1E3M

Weirdly, I discovered this fact b/c the original is sampled on the Super Furry Animals' "Hello Sunshine."

New song:

https://soundcloud.com/drag-city/laetitia-sadier-then-i-will

Details of album:

Laetitia Sadier’s new album has just been delivered, and it’s a joy! Something Shines took nine months to create, record, and mature: you know what that means, baby! New life….
Alternating between a riveting caress and an invigorating shake, the songs of Something Shines start from the Earth and tilt up towards the sky, before coming back down to the planet again. Taking it all in, Something Shines is also an exploration through Debord’s La Société du Spectacle, and how it is still up to us to guide and shape our fate, individually and collectively. Laetitia examines several relevant questions – such as the main inquiry of “Oscuridad”: "Do the rich need the poor to be rich?" The song examines the war being led against the lower classes of this world by the ultra-rich to rob them (us!) even further of their (our!) resources. On the riveting caress-side side of things, "Life Is Winning" is a subtle reminder to get in touch with the innate joy and revelation of living.
All these thoughts and many others are communicated with delicately textured production, twinkling and shifting with the subtlety of nature. Often sounding like the world outside, whooshing and chirping and clicking in time, placing these concerns in the place where we live, Something Shines reflects the lives hanging in the balance between issues, lives that are often too small to see yet contribute to the world as a whole. Even in the face of realities that continue to cripple so many in the name of so few, Something Shines consistently elevates itself with lyrical confidence, intimacy, and an arcing musicality that allows it to go to the hearts and minds of every listener. Open your heart and mind to Something Shines, the new album from Laetitia Sadier, out September 23rd, and listen to the album's debut single, "Then I Will Love You Again!"

lovely!

Excited! I was pleasantly surprised by Silencio, it was much more polished and enjoyable than I expected after feeling lackluster about The Trip and the last Monade album.

I haven't bothered with her solo stuff but I do miss (pre-Dots and Loops) 'Lab. Is Silencio a decent place to start

Silencio is worth checking out but not particularly similar to pre-Dots and Loops Stereolab

She's also got this Little Tornados band that hasn't gotten much funding yet...

http://indiegogo.com/projects/little-tornados-1st-album-we-are-divine-production-and-vinyl/x/8144374

Let's do something about that.

^amen to this. About half the Little Tornados LP is up on soundcloud and it's very nice. Worthy of a vinyl release.

got Silencio for my birthday - pretty sweet. Pleasantly lacking a lot of the things I found annoying about latter-day Stereolab, which I (apparently correctly) attributed to Gane.

yes, I heard this last week and liked it WAY more than I expected

it's not quite as sonically rich as a 'Lab record but all her melodic/songwriting chops are well in evidence

still haven't heard the new one yet

to be clear, I am talking about the new one (Something Shines)

I was unfamiliar w/her previous solo work

So hey, she's been on an American tour this month annnnd had a chance to chat with her!

http://www.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2015/09/23/we-hung-out-with-french-singer-and-musician-laetitia-sadier-before-her-show-at-brick-and-mortar-tonight

nice! love her so much

great interview!

Thanks!

She's got a new band going:

Find Me Finding You, the new album from the new organization called the Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble, manages to strike new chords while touching familiar keys in the song of life.

From its percolating opening beat, Find Me Finding You locates new systems within the sound-universe of Laetitia Sadier. When we hear synth lines diving, lifting and drifting, unusual guitar textures, the plucked sound of flat wound bass strings or the bottomless pulsing of bass pedals stepping out of the mix with an exquisite vibrancy, this is the sound of the Source Ensemble! This designation implies a new togetherness phase; alongside long-time collaborators Emmanuel Mario and Xavi Munoz, keyboard and flutes parts played by David Thayer were essential contributions, as well as further keys, synths and electronics from Phil M FU and several intense guitar sequences from Mason le Long. The duet with Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor on "Love Captive" (not to mention Rob Mazurek's distinctive coronet playing!) gives voice to an ideological cornerstone of Find Me Finding You - that, should we be responsible enough to endeavor into a world of basic incomes and open relationships, we would make astonishing strides as a society. These sorts of things can only be done in agreement with others.

First single -- very Young Marble Giants at the start, I think!

https://soundcloud.com/drag-city/laetitia-sadier-source-ensemble-undying-love-for-humanity

spotify link or it doesn't exist

(ducks)

Love the single (unsurprisingly).

modern cosmology — "a time to blossom" (2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O0KGPNhZhU

i like this a lot.

like the other modern cosmology record wasn't even that good. this is transcendent though; cocteaus go sunshine pop. really looking forward to the forthcoming thing.

Gorgeous!

okay, this is completely great.

ooh, thanks for the heads up, didn't realize this was out

it

's oh so good and i highly recommend it. very much a different thing entirely from the first modern cosmology record - and i'd say that definitely works in its favor. thoughts overall will come into clearer focus with more listens, but damn this is some good shit.

New album is fantastic and the solo show tonight in SF was WONDERFUL. Just her, her guitar, some preprogramming, live loops at points and at one point her trombone. Wonderful night out!

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kqdyhnklmmv34nmml6btyqv6/bafkreifsi4dmlt2cai5aeh25akqmablweenaqfw3ts4fdr2byrugovhzte@jpeg

I will always love that she plays a right handed guitar upside down

Album sounds good to me on first listen. She's not doing anything I didn't expect, but she is doing her style well

https://img.broadtime.com/Photo/418467268061:360

this is coming out on record store day — first four solo albums. will probably be expen$ive.

oops wrong thread!

but hey, i'm seeing Laetitia this weekend — did not think it was going to be an actual "solo" show! That is interesting / cool.

This is pretty nice, though (tbh) nothing Gane or Sadier have done apart from Stereolab has measured up to prime-time Stereolab

I saw her in SF, too. It was a great, intimate show. But she was under the weather and made some mistakes. Per her 'disclaimer,' it did really feel like a warm-up show. She ended the performance by speaking really candidly to the crowd, and shared that she was concerned she might lose her voice. She's got a long tour ahead of her, and I hope she is hanging in there! Seeing her live was really special.

Ah, if there were mistakes, I didn't sense them as such, or at least nothing beyond what can normally happen in a live show -- I recall one song having a false start moment but that was about it! But yes, I hope that tea for her throat helped!

the last time i saw her (pre-pandemic!) in philly she broke her guitar mid-song, arranged with the opening band watching in the wings to borrow one of theirs, restrung it to deal with her being left-handed (?) all while her group held it down, without missing a groove. so so good

I'm re-reading my post and feeling guilty for coming off so negative. She was great, and the rawness of the performance was really something special. The new album really shines! :)

"the last time i saw her (pre-pandemic!) in philly she broke her guitar mid-song, arranged with the opening band watching in the wings to borrow one of theirs, restrung it to deal with her being left-handed (?)"

She plays a conventionally strung right handed guitar, but lefty. That's her thing.