Stereolab just keeps going. And I love it. I love that this band has been around for two proper decades and still retain a definitive relevance in the pop music mega-brain. They prove this worth yet again on their newest album Chemical Chords. Sure, Stereolab reached their sterling pinnacle with Emperor Tomato Ketchup in 1997, but unlike the Rolling Stones, age has been kind to them. Chemical Chords is an unyielding effort.

The album is everything you’d expect from Stereolab spare a few new surprises thrown in. For one thing, Chemical Chords is decidedly French. Not in the irreverent pompous way, but in the casual cool of ’60s Parisian mod pop. Steering themselves further away from the funk overtones of Dots and Loops and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, guitarist Tim Gane and lead vocalist Laetitia Sadir set a course for pocket symphonic shores. The band’s foundation of krautrock relentlessness is alive and well, but this time around it is gussied up in sugar sweet vocal melodies, chiming guitar, vibraphones and string swells. And of course there are the keyboards and synthesizers, but they act more as measured punctuations then they do a driving force this time around. There is also a distinct flair of Motown running through the album. Just listen to Self Portrait with Electric Brain’ or ‘Neon Beanbag’ for evidence of the candied pounding that is so thoroughly the Supremes.

Latetia Sadir’s vocal work is gentle and gorgeous, as per usual. She has that gracefully unique croon that instantly raises the accompanying instrumentation to its fullest potential. It honestly doesn’t matter that she is singing in French - and I can’t understand a word of it. Yet she sings like she’s making love to the melody, like lightly purring to her lover. The flapping bass and ballooning trumpets of ‘Three Women’ are quick to answer her call.

It’s all so utterly enticing that you’ll want to go venture off and find a jetset lounge to sit in and discuss socialism. That’s your visual supplement for Chemical Chords. Let it sink in…are you in the lounge? Do you see the hotshot airline pilot in large brown sunglasses at the bar? Do you see that firecracker of a woman in the corner, dancing around in an orange polka-dot dress and go-go boots? Good. Welcome to Stereolab. The special tonight is Chemical Chords.

Michael Tenzer