THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Are you having aerial troubles with your colour TV? We can’t help with the technical issues, but we are able to take your minds off the problem with news of a brand-new Stereolab album.
Their first new record in 15 years, it features 13 songs written by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane, and performed by Laetitia, Tim, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz, who comprise the current touring lineup of the band. The album also features guest contributions by Cooper Crain and Rob Frye (Bitchin Bajas), Ben LaMar Gay (International Anthem), Ric Elsworth, Holger Zapf (Cavern Of Anti-Matter), Marie Merlet and Molly Hansen Read.
Weeks ago, some fans of the band received a package stamped “unsolicited Stereolab material.” Inside was a 7” single containing Aerial Troubles on one side, an instrumental version on the flip, with a cryptic wordsearch insert. At the same time, posters with the band’s name appeared in a number of major cities with the same word grid printed on. Over the following days, there was much online speculation about how the words go together, and whether the single did indeed contain new music, or something from the band’s archives.
Then came the slow reveal of the album cover art on the Lab Report signup page of the band’s website, with different layers gradually appearing. The 7” started landing with people on April 2, exaclty 16 years to the day after the group announced they were going on indefinite hiatus. In 2019 they released expanded and remastered editions of seven of their studio albums, and played live for the first time in nine years. They have continued to tour sporadically since then, and have augmented their catalogue further with the release of the compilations Electrically Possessed (Switched On Vol. 4) in 2021, and Pulse Of The Early Brain (Switched On Vol. 5) in 2022.”
