Monade
Monstre Cosmic
(Too Pure)
Unfortunately for Laetitia Sadier, she has one of those instantly recognizable voices. The (dare it be said) brand recognition is so strong a listener forgets this is Monade and not Stereolab—the singer’s usual band. This is reinforced by other elements: Marie Merlet’s plonk-plonk bass, Rachel Ortas’ ba-ba-badah-aaaaah-type vocal counterpoint, frequent time changes within songs, usually shifting into downtempo, and Sadier’s trademark tenor switching from French to English and back in its delivery of pensive, philosophical songs. Apart from some lovely string arrangements from the Bordeaux Conservatoire, this is Stereolab-lite.
Sean Flinn
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2008.