Life Is Winning

‘Tis the season for members of 90s rock bands to release solo albums. Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis recently released his solo Tied to a Star, and now Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier has released her third solo full-length, entitled Something Shines. But to Sadier’s credit, she hasn’t stopped making music since she started more than 20 years ago. This isn’t seasonal behavior.

Sadier’s voice is low and sultry and she sings from time to time in her native French tongue (despite living in London during much of her Stereolab days). While nothing on Something Shines really pops enough to get stuck in your head, there are plenty of sophisticated moments. “Life Is Winning” closes the album well with happy, loose, gospel-like elements and even manages to mix in a little brass. It’s incorporating that little bit of everything she likes while also making it all flow together. But don’t worry, you don’t have to wait until the final track to hear something good.

“Transhumance,” while a nice name that may have been fitting as the album title, doesn’t quite live up to the name’s expectations. Lyrically, Sadier jumps from whimsical to political; In “Butter Side Up” she’s “Still looking for treasures in the atmosphere” and in “Oscuridad” she tells us how she really feels; “Rich bourgeoisie, scapegoat immigrants, ultra rich and their impunity rot our society.”

One of the best things about Something Shines is its originality compared to the rest of today’s indie rock releases. She holds onto some key elements from her Stereolab days, but this is a product straight from Sadier’s own expansive mind. Some might criticize and say it sounds too much like Stereolab, but so what? They were awesome.