SECONDS: LAETITIA SADIER - "ONE MILLION YEAR TRIP"

It seems as good a time as any to do another one of these.

Laetitia Sadier - One Million Year Trip

I am a huge Stereolab fan, and Laetitia Sadier's voice is (was) obviously a large part of that band's appeal. I'm going to be honest, I would not just listen to, but pay to listen to her reading the phone book. When Stereolab announced their hiatus, I was disappointed. No more chances to listen to that lovely voice? C'est une catastrophe! Thankfully, Sadier released a solo album last year (which, along with the "outtakes" album, Not Music, that Stereolab released, made for a bunch of new material featuring her). I was initially not very impressed by Sadier's album, The Trip. It felt too subtle somehow, a kind of muted Stereolab-lite that I couldn't imagine actually wanting to listen to. The album has grown on me since then, and--although I'm still more likely to reach for Sound-Dust or Mars Audiac Quintet (my two favourite releases by the Groop)--I appreciate the craft and intimacy of Sadier's solo album.

The one exception to everything I just wrote is the semi-title track of the album, "One Million Year Trip." Written in response to the death of Sadier's younger sister, the poignant meditation on grief in the lyrics would be enough to sell the song even without the performance that Sadier gives. Gone are the restrained melodies of Stereolab. Here, she lets her voice go up and up forever, the melody ascending like it has no end, and, to make an obvious and cliche point, it is heavenly. I cannot describe the pleasure I get from hearing Sadier work through her entire range and she absolutely demands attention as soon as she opens her mouth. She never slips into the background. There is no pleasant la-la-ing and doo-doo-ing her way through a song and riding a groove. Now, don't get me wrong, she does those things better than almost anyone, but for a singer with such a phenomenal voice, it always seems a bit of a waste. She opens up on this song, and it is devestatingly good. When the song cools off for its final minute or so, her wordless vocals still feel more active than they would have in a Stereolab song. Indeed, listening to this song and then listening to the lead-off track from Not Music, it starts to seem like she'd outgrown whatever she could do within the context of Stereolab.

However, it's not just a vocal extravaganza (though it is that, too). The music is great. While it bears more than a passing similarity with Stereolab (natch), the similarities are to a Stereolab that hasn't really been heard from since pre-Dots and Loops. This is, for all the production bells and whistles (and the weird synths that twist around behind Sadier's voice are awesome and beg to be used more), a fairly simple and driving rock song. It's got a beat that's a little funkier than straight motorik, a bouncing bassline, a synth line and some guitar. That's it. (There are some heartbreakingly adorable versions on YouTube of Sadier playing this song and ba-ba-ing the bassline herself). With all that space, Sadier can put her voice to good use. The cool down at the end of the song reminds me in a weird way of the end of Four Tet's "Love Cry." The entire song is gorgeous and celebratory and transforms the quite-obvious grief Sadier feels into one of the most direct and emotional statements of her career. What a way to kick off a solo album.