Stereolab Returns From 15 Year Hiatus, Now Showing No Signs Of Stopping

33 minutes ago
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Only back in May, Stereolab released Instant Holograms On Metal Film, which came as a surprise to anyone doubting whether the band was still intact. Following a 15 year span between album releases, they dropped one single, ‘Melody Is A Womb’, and one month later, the attached album, which received rave reviews and reignited the intrigue surrounding the group.

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With such an extensive catalog, it can be difficult to pinpoint an exact sound they would be building off of, if any of their past works. Much to our delight, they built off a mixture of their best. The melodic writing and pop feel of albums such as Not Music, and the analog electronic psychedelia of Dots And Loops and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Truly among the greatest from a group that is well known for their astounding legacy on the indie genre itself, 2025 became a legendary year for Stereolab. But the releases didn’t end there... Soon after, we received two additional singles, ‘Fed Up With Your Job / Constant And Uniform Movement Unknown’, which built upon the album without feeling too much like B-sides, and this week we received two more, ‘Cloud Land / Flashes in the Afternoon’. Of course, this leaves everyone to wonder if and when a new album will be released and if these are leading up to one. These are touted as brand new studio releases, so it can be safely wished that we will soon see more LPs or Eps from the group, hopefully sooner than later.

These tracks highlight what made their most recent full-length EP so special but also explore new sonic wilds. The piano intro in ‘Flashes in the Afternoon’ is something you don’t see too often from the group, while the rest of the elevator jazz track definitely is, flute solos and all. This is what the group has become known for: making uncool musical cool, not by redefining it, but recontextualizing it. Stereolab borrows from plenty of still-popular genres, and analog electronic music has seen lots of love, especially recently, with a mix of nostalgia for the 90s and Charlie XCX’s Brat assisting with that. Here it’s different, ‘Cloud Land’ features the toy-sounding arpeggios much like its sister track ‘Electrified Teenybop!’. It’s to be admired how, with such a vast catalog, every track truly feels unique and tackles different production and influences.