Stereolab: White Cliffs and Avant-Pop
Back in 2018, during the heady days of Brexit negotiations, the Tories’ Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, publicly stated that he “hadn't quite understood” how reliant the UK is on trade passing between Calais in France and Dover. He later stated that he hadn't realized how important toilet paper was after having spent decades walking around with shit dripping down his trouser legs. That second sentence is a complete lie, but it’s scarcely less believable than Raab being quite so ignorant about the importance of the UK's closest link to mainland Europe, when understanding such things was his taxpayer-funded actual job.
Stereolab in Dover, May 2025. © Steven Drew
As if to further emphasise the historic importance of the roughly 20-mile wide distance between the nations of France and the UK, Anglo-French experimental indie-lounge darlings Stereolab chose Dover to launch their first album in 15 years.
Xavi Muñoz and Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab in Dover, May 2025. © Steven Drew
The album, ‘Instant Holograms On Metal Film,’ has been widely critically acclaimed and will undoubtedly appear on December’s AOTY lists. Naturally, a massive tour of Europe and North America was arranged in support of the record. But why start in Dover? Even as a warm-up show in a 330-capacity venue, it may seem like an odd location to kick things off. But given the town’s role as our gateway to Europe (something Mr Raab failed to realise), with the tour kicking off properly less than 24 hours later in Brussels, it actually makes a lot of sense, especially if you've got a busload of equipment and crew. So much so, one wonders why more UK-based bands touring Europe don't play there.
Being too impatient to wait for their December dates and wishing to avoid London’s Royal Festival Hall (a terrible venue for live music, unless you like watching tiny dots from half a mile away), I dragged myself out of the bunker to the south coast for what promised to be a very special evening.
Of Stereolab's post-1993 lineup, founders and songwriters Lætitia Sadier and Tim Gane, plus drummer Andy Ramsay, remain. They are joined on stage and record by post-comeback regulars Xavi Muñoz (bass and vocals) and Joe Watson (keyboards). Lætitia, taking the role of multi-instrumentalist frontwoman, was quick to admit that this audience were their “guinea pigs,” and it certainly felt like the groop, performing the new album live for the first time, needed a few songs under their belt before settling. But the intimate nature of the show did them a lot of favors, and the crowd's goodwill was obvious from the outset, carrying them through a slightly shaky start to a set full of charm, bops, and a few of the millions of off-kilter musical ideas that make the band absolutely unique.
For casual fans, there was plenty to enjoy. The new album was well represented, the show opening with lead single ‘Aerial Troubles’, featuring guest vocals from opening act Iko Chérie, followed later by singles ‘Melodie Is A Wound’ and ‘Transmuted Matter’. From 1996's ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’, arguably their masterpiece and certainly the record that broke them on US college radio, ‘Motoroller’ and ‘Percolator’ appeared for the first time since the 2019 reunion.
Stereolab in Dover, May 2025. © Steven Drew
Of course, with a back catalogue as vast as theirs, there are plenty of opportunities to cater to their most hardcore of fans. And with tracks such as self-described “deep cut” ‘Household Names,’ along with the likes of ‘Outer Accelerator,’ ‘Peng! 33,’ and ‘The Way We Will Be Opening,’ none of which have been heard on stage this century (and in the latter’s case, not since 1991), even stans (proposed “Swifties”-esque collective noun: ‘Labrats’) would have heard something new that night.
To cite a personal highlight, towards the end of the main set, also from ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’, was a climactic and epic performance of a song I first heard during Chris Morris’ late-night radio gem ‘Blue Jam’ over 2 decades ago, a hugely formative experience for me.
Seeing the band perform ‘Cybele’s Reverie’ live, with Lætitia playing the coda on trombone, was bucket list territory.
Stereolab may well put on slicker shows on this tour, but I doubt they’ll be quite as special as this one was. Catch them in the smallest venue you can.
What you missed. (live bootleg)
How to not miss it in the future. (2025 tour dates)
Further notes: The Booking Hall needs some air-conditioning urgently, and any band that sells a range of branded biscuit cutters and tea towels instead of copies of the album they were there to promote is alright by me.
We are British. We call them biscuits.
www.onemanunderground.co.uk
PS. Massive thanks to Steven Drew for the use of his photos.
