They were founded in 1990 by songwriters Tim Gane (guitar, keyboards), formerly of the band McCarthy, and Laetitia Sadier (sometimes credited as Seaya Sadier; vocals, keyboards, trombone, guitar), who is from France and sings in both English and French.
Over the years, Gane and Sadier have enlisted a large number of other musicians to accompany them on stage and on record. The initial line-up featured Martin Kean, formerly of The Chills, on bass, and Joe Dilworth (from their Too Pure label-mates Th’ Faith Healers) on drums, with Russell Yates (of Moose) and Mick Conroy (ex-Modern English) also appearing at early live shows. In 1993 they recruited Andy Ramsay (drums), who has remained in the group line-up ever since, and Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion). Hansen’s distinctive backing vocals became an important aspect of the Stereolab sound, and she remained a regular feature of the line-up until her death in a cycling accident on December 9, 2002. Multi-instrumentalist Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas has also been a frequent contributor, particularly with string, brass and keyboard arrangements to the band’s studio albums. John McEntire (Tortoise) has also contributed keyboard, electronic effects and studio help over the years. Other members have come and (in some cases) gone over the years, including Duncan Brown, Dave Pajo (from Tortoise), Richard Harrison and Simon Johns (all bass); Gina Morris (vocals); and Katharine Gifford and Morgane Lhote (both on keyboards).
Early Stereolab material displayed a heavy influence of krautrock sounds, particularly Neu! and Faust, characteristically relying on droning, repetitive guitar or keyboard riffs, with or without vocals. Early heavy use of distorted Farfisa combo-organ sounds were also reminiscent of early recordings by The Modern Lovers. As the band developed, they incorporated new instrumentation, and an increasingly complex sense of rhythm and structure, frequently making use of irregular time signatures as well as unorthodox chord progressions and melodic intervals. The band has often made copious use of female backing vocal lines.
Lyrically, Stereolab’s music is quirky (song titles evoke memories of 1950s science fiction stories, and are often borrowed directly from old films and records of the period, but have nothing to do with the song’s content), but highly politically and philosophically charged, sometimes with a decidedly Surrealist or Situationist bent. (Sadier notes the libertarian Marxist theoretician Cornelius Castoriadis as a particular inspiration.) Sadier’s lyrics, in both French and English, often read like highly condensed sociological texts, standing in deliberate and distinct counterpoint to the lush hedonic pop sound of the band. A prime example would be “Ping Pong” from Mars Audiac Quintet, which is an explicit restating of Marxist theory concerning the relationship between economic cycles and war cycles.
Stereolab earned a minor place in the Britpop movement, with their sound proving influential to bands like Blur: occasional keyboard-driven b-sides and singer Damon Albarn’s love of retro keyboards showed the influence, and in recognition Laetitia Sadier was invited to provide vocals on “To The End” from Parklife.
Despite the band’s fan base and critical acclaim, Stereolab has not achieved high levels of financial or popular success. On June 7, 2004, suits at the Warner Music label (to whom the band was signed in the U.S.) announced they were dropping Stereolab in response to the poor sales (40,000 to that date) of Margerine Eclipse. This was part of an ongoing effort by Warner to cut costs; The Breeders and Third Eye Blind were also dropped from the label for this reason. Laetitia Sadier is now also a member of Monade, which is essentially expressive of her own singular musical goals.
Farfisa
Stereolab Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
où le coeur est manquant
penser au delà de la pensée
le coeur est aliénant
la plénitude de l'horreur de la joie
dans un dépassement
coïincidence de la vie de la mort
de l'être et do néant
toujours plus loin devant
anéantir morale religion
et que la voix la plus pure rejoigne la libert
The lyrics to Stereolab's song Farfisa explore the concept of thinking beyond the limitations of the mind and embracing the full spectrum of emotions, both positive and negative. The first two lines suggest that thinking beyond the limit of the mind, where the heart is absent, can lead to a sense of alienation. However, the subsequent lines suggest that there is a deeper meaning to life that goes beyond our understanding, and that we can experience a profound sense of joy in embracing the horror of the world.
The second half of the song introduces the idea of pushing beyond boundaries, both in terms of beliefs and in terms of life and death themselves. The line "where limits are constantly projected, always further ahead" suggests a sense of endless exploration and discovery. Finally, the lyrics call for the destruction of moral and religious dogma, and for the purest voice to join in the pursuit of freedom.
Overall, the lyrics to Farfisa encourage us to think beyond our preconceptions and limitations, to embrace the full spectrum of human experience, and to pursue freedom and liberation from conventional thinking.
Line by Line Meaning
penser au delà de la pensée
Reflections beyond rational thought
où le coeur est manquant
Where the heart is absent
penser au delà de la pensée
Reflections beyond rational thought
le coeur est aliénant
The heart is alienating
la plénitude de l'horreur de la joie
The completeness of the horror of joy
dans un dépassement
In a surpassing
coïincidence de la vie de la mort
Coincidence of life and death
de l'être et do néant
Of being and nothingness
où les limites sont sans cesse projetées
Where limits are constantly projected
toujours plus loin devant
Always further ahead
anéantir morale religion
Annihilating morals and religion
et que la voix la plus pure rejoigne la liberté
And the purest voice joins freedom
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LAETITIA SADIER, TIMOTHY JOHN GANE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind