After a decade and a half in suspended animation, Stereolab are back and sounding as timelessly futuristic as ever. Instant Holograms On Metal Film is their first full-length studio album since 2010’s Not Music, and it’s a successful re-entry into orbit.

The new record, their first in 15 years, features 13 tracks summoned by the core songwriting duo of Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane, performed by the current touring lineup that includes drummer Andy Ramsay, keyboardist Joe Watson, and bassist Xavi Muñoz. True to the spirit of the group, the album is a collaborative, many-layered affair, with contributions from fellow sonic voyagers Cooper Crain & Rob Frye (Bitchin Bajas), Ben LaMar Gay (International Anthem), Ric Elsworth, Holger Zapf (Cavern Of Anti-Matter), Marie Merlet, and Molly Read.

If Stereolab were once the avant-pop cartographers of analog warmth and Marxist-laced lounge futurism, Instant Holograms On Metal Film doesn’t so much abandon that mission as expand its parameters. There’s a sense of lucid cohesion here - like a collage of kosmische dreams, modular synth blooms, and motorik grooves, filtered through the philosophical clarity Sadier has always brought to the mic. In typical Stereolab fashion, the album’s title feels like an art installation and a cult sci-fi film all in one. Expect layers of sound, of thought, of sardonic detachment, all wrapped in that unmistakable swirl of retro-futurist cool.

Since their hiatus, Stereolab have remained a beloved cult institution, their influence spreading like ripples across generations of electronic, indie, and experimental musicians. The past few years saw a flurry of archival activity such as reissues of classics like Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Dots And Loops in 2019, and two volumes in their Switched On rarities series in 2021 and 2022. But Instant Holograms On Metal Film marks the first time the band has truly stepped forward into the future since the early 2010s.

In terms of the subject matter, lyric writer Sadier summarizes: “As the world falls apart, whether we are aware of it or not, we are already planting the seeds of what will come next. I think it is important to keep in sight what powerful creators we are, and how there is power available to us at this stage to choose what outcome we would like to see for this yet undefined future.”