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.
Monstre Sacre
Stereolab Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Old shrunken apple,
Ready for the pit,
I have let you go,
Without forgiving
Or understanding,
So now you are gone,
You live within me,
We communicate,
The light it creates and the tears it generates
Bring the forgiveness
Don't let me down now
Life half sapped away,
It took all that time,
Since you passed away,
To moisten the love
We have forged the sought after union brought us together and the fullness,
The completeness, the infinite simplicity the world offers forgiveness
The lyrics of Stereolab's "Monstre Sacre" reflect themes of grief, forgiveness, and the lasting impact of loved ones who have passed away. In the first stanza, the singer describes their feelings toward someone they have lost - an "old shrunken apple" who was "ready for the pit." The singer admits to feeling unprepared and unable to forgive or understand this person before they passed away, leading to a sense of regret.
Despite this, the singer feels a sense of connection with the departed - "You live within me / We communicate." The singer describes the emotions that come with this connection, including both light and tears. Ultimately, the singer seeks forgiveness and asks that this connection not let them down.
In the final stanza, the singer reflects on the passage of time since the person's death - "It took all that time / Since you passed away / To moisten the love." This suggests that the singer has had to work through their grief and forgiveness over a long period. However, the singer also describes a sense of union and completeness that has come from this process. The world offers forgiveness, and the singer seems to have found some level of peace in their connection with the lost loved one.
Line by Line Meaning
Hastened decrepit,
I was in a hurry to end our relationship, even though you were old and worn-out.
Old shrunken apple,
You used to be beautiful and full of life, but now you are withered and unappealing.
Ready for the pit,
You are ready to be discarded and forgotten.
I have let you go,
I have moved on from our relationship and left you behind.
Without forgiving
I have not forgiven you for whatever you did wrong.
Or understanding,
I did not try to see things from your perspective or empathize with you.
So now you are gone,
Now that you are out of my life, I realize the impact you had on me.
There could be nothing,
Without you, there is nothing left to fill the void.
You live within me,
Even though you are gone, you are still a part of me and my memories.
We communicate,
Our memories and feelings for each other still communicate even if we are not together.
The light it creates and the tears it generates
Our relationship had both good and bad moments, which cause mixed emotions.
Bring the forgiveness
These emotions should help bring forgiveness for the negative aspects of the relationship.
Don't let me down now
I am hoping to find closure and redemption through forgiveness.
Life half sapped away,
My life feels like it is only half-lived without you in it.
It took all that time,
It took a long time for me to realize the impact our relationship had on me.
Since you passed away,
Since you left my life, whether physically or emotionally.
To moisten the love
To bring back the passion and love that was lost between us.
We have forged the sought after union brought us together and the fullness,
Our relationship was a perfect union that brought us so much happiness.
The completeness, the infinite simplicity the world offers forgiveness
Forgiveness can bring completeness and a simple happiness to our lives, as we move on from our past mistakes and hurt.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: LAETITIA SADIER, TIMOTHY JOHN GANE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind