Lætitia Sadier

The Trip (Drag City)

By Dana Raidt
Published: September 24th, 2010 | 1:00pm

After fronting Stereolab—and more recently, Monade—for 20 years, it’s about time Lætitia Sadier released a solo album. It’s always seemed the native Frenchwoman’s soothing voice, endearing accent, and upbeat melodies, can, simply put, do no wrong. Her sing-song phrasing and maddeningly guileless yet ingenious structures are allowed to fully come to the surface on The Trip. With Stereolab, there has always been a slight timidity to her voice, as if she was holding back on account of her bandmates, and with her side project, Monade, Sadier seemed inch more to the forefront. On this release, however, her voice seems even stronger, not buried in Moog and drum machines.

“One Million Year Trip” kicks off the record on a confident, although familiar, note, and Sadier almost seems to saunter through the album, complete with her frank and stirring lyrics—which, admittedly, are not always discernable, even when in English. The Trip is assertively soothing, swinging between languid (a cover of the traditional lullaby “Summertime”) and exciting (“Ceci est le Coeur”).

The album will be pretty familiar to Stereolab fans, as apart from her stronger vocals, Sadier doesn’t branch out too far beyond what her band has already done. Though it may not be the most innovative or groundbreaking direction, what she does on The Trip is make a feel-good gem—the perfect accompaniment to the summer-fall cusp.

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Lætitia Sadier MySpace page

Drag City Records