Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse

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Music reviews of Margerine Eclipse

Music Review: The Beach Boys - TODAY?
Rating: 4 Stars

At this stage, however, the Groop has moved far beyond its modest beginnings. The droning Farfisa's appear less and less, and the LSD-hum has been muted. More and more the band sounds like the Association in its prime, with subtle Steely Dan-isms (floating rhythms; horn charts) sprinkled throughout. The Beach Boys - most of whom are now dead - appear to be working from some celestial perch (along with recently departed Mary Hansen?) to guide the band into pop paradise. Lush harmonies, counterpoint melodies and vocals and the band's trademark "movements" (shifts in tempo, melody and rhythm, often within the space of a few bars) give the Groop the sound and feel of any number of 60's and 70's vocal groups. The baroque arrangements and song form experimentation are straight from the Beach Boys songbook.

"Margerine" displays little that is radically different than the last studio release, "Sound Dust." In the case of Stereolab, however, more of the same is just fine. After a long and unsung career, the band seems to have found its voice. After long-time member Mary Hansen's death, one might expect the band to offer some droney-sad, dark memorial. Historically, some of Stereolab's most memorable and haunting music has fit this description. But "Margerine" takes a different perspective; the band seems to be celebrating Mary's life and the beauty of her new "home" (heaven?).

Talking about Stereolab in terms of individual songs is almost a disservice to the band. Their records - like Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys' best - are impressionistic soundscapes that almost have to be taken as a whole. Unlike the successful vocal groups they so often mimic, Stereolab has never been a singles band. Their songs have a wistful beauty about them and, despite the funky bass and analog synth tones, maintain a warmth and meloncholy that is at once human and heavenly, uplifting and sad.

Is this album, in effect, Mary's Prayer? My French isn't good enough to tell for sure. If it is, however, Hansen should be smiling. She could not have asked for - or expected - a better send off.

Description of Margerine Eclipse

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Miscellaneous
• Pop
• Rock