music
Lætitia Sadier, the leader and vocalist of Stereolab, is back to releasing music under her own name. Released in February by Drag City, Rooting for Love is already one of the most well-received albums of the year, and Sadier’s first since Stereolab’s reunion.
We always hear the vocalist’s soft voice surrounded by honeyed guitars and pleasant melodies. But the French artist’s words have always carried the weight of political vindication, so much so that they could almost clash with the harmonious gentleness with which she sang. From surrealist imagery to critical theory; from the call to action in the song French Disko to the anti-capitalist manifesto on the album Dots and Loops (1997), Stereolab and Sadier’s avant-garde pop was never not political. This urgency has infected not only his work with Monade and Little Tornado, but also his solo career, which she launched in 2010 with The Trip.
Fourteen years and four albums later, Lætitia Sadier’s voice is still sharp. Rooting For Love looks at a world in collapse and calls for a collective struggle for knowledge and love. Throughout this work, a chorus of diverse voices joins the vocalist to remind us that this is the music of a people with a goal. But as Lætitia has accustomed us to, beneath the gentle chords lurks the darkness of themes such as femicide, fascism and neoliberalism. This spring and summer, Lætitia Sadier returns to stages around the world to once again appeal to our inner alignment and the power of the heart, so that we can create what is to come.
support portuguese republic – culture / directorate-general for the arts. rtcp – network of portuguese theatres and cinemas
