This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Death has a way of bringing life into sharp focus. It sure appears to have had that effect on Stereolab, anyway.
A year after singer and keyboardist Mary Hansen was killed in a traffic accident while cycling in London, the remaining members of this beloved avant-pop outfit have regrouped to produce Margerine Eclipse, their latest studio album and likely the toughest disc they’ve ever had to make. But as is so often the case, the tragedy that touched their personal and professional lives seems to have ironically brought them back to life, helping the group reconnect not only with each other but also with their muse and musical motivation.
Anyone expecting Margerine Eclipse to be a downcast, mournful memorial is in for a surprise; if anything, most of these tracks are upbeat affairs, displaying the sort of bubbly lounge-pop and kitschy exuberance which fuelled their earlier work but was in woefully short supply on more recent releases like 2001’s drab, aptly titled Sound-Dust.
Perhaps things have improved because Chicago post-rockers Jim O’Rourke and John McEntire aren’t around this time to clutter things up with their fuzzy lo-fi production and cluttered noodlings. But mostly, you get the sense Stereolab have something to prove this time, both to themselves and their listeners. And they come through with flying colours, offering 50-plus minutes of space-age bachelor pad beauty brimming with suave sophistication, bouncy beats, jazzy lounge grooves, bleep-bloop synths and icy ba-ba-ba vocals from Laetitia Sadier.
One of the few sombre notes is struck on Feel and Triple, a pretty, moving sendoff to Hansen that begins with Sadier crooning “Goodbye Mary” and ends with the eulogy, “You will sing for ever like an angel who flew away.” Only time will tell whether Margerine Eclipse marks the beginning of a return to form for Stereolab or a farewell to their early sound. But either way, they’ve done right by themselves. And by Hansen.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m2HPw7Z-3wgR0KOQJrqumAVg7g7ihFLGs&feature=shared
