Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble Brings Sweet Sounds to Lost Lake
August 30, 2017[slideshow_deploy id=’7163′]
Photos: Sandisz Thieme
If you’re a fan of Stereolab – the ’90s juggernaut of Euro-pop influenced, jazzy, space-age music – then you know Laetitia Sadier. Most familiar as the deeper voice in Stereolab, Sadier always occupied a dominant space in the band, opposite the late Mary Hansen until 2002. With her new band, Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble, she’s continuing the tradition of ’60s-based electro-psychedelic pop, though she seems to have softened a bit on the leftist/Marxist themes in her lyricism.
With the Source Ensemble, Sadier seemed concerned not so much justice or revolt as with love and freedom – between couples, between enemies – universally. She sang about worlds that could benefit everyone, based on an “Undying Love for Humanity,” which she called out for in the set’s first song.
The new group played on the low, humble stage at Lost Lake last Saturday night for a little over an hour, to a crowd that looked to have likely been at Stereolab, Pavement, Beck, and Flaming Lips shows throughout the late ’90s & early 2000s, and most aging quite well – albeit none quite as impressively as Sadier. She crooned in front of them, playing a few different guitars throughout the show, often approaching the throatiness of Nico, but always with a smooth strength.
They played much of their debut album, “Find Me Finding You,” showing an even more melodic, heavily acoustic sound than Stereolab. There was almost a slight Brazilian psychedelia feel much of the time, soothing rhythms and lilting melodies backed by thick, groovy keys and pretty guitars. The ensemble felt more like a backing band for Sadier than a full collaboration – which I think benefitted their sound, and Sadier’s vision. Never giving up, Sadier appears to be well on track to continue creating beautiful noises, sounds, and utopian visions – which is both a good and refreshing thing for humanity.