Rock

Stereolab
Instant Holograms On Metal Film
Duophonic D-UHF-CD46; LP: D-UHF-D46

Back in the ’90s Stereolab made their name incorporating elements of Easy Listening, ’60s library music, French Yé-yé pop and mesmeric grooves borrowed from ’70s Krautrock band Neu!, and served it all up with a hefty dollop of retro-futurism. On their first album in 15 years they revisit this timeless mix, complete with primary-coloured guitars and cheesy organ lines. The mantric instrumental section of ‘Melodie Is A Wound’ achieves a cumulative grandeur, while ‘Electrified Teenybop!’ is a mosaic of hyperactive dayglo synths. And by contrast, singer and multi-instrumentalist Laetitia Sadier’s sweetly intoned lyrics tackle weighty issues like injustice and mortality. The combination still sounds remarkably fresh. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

Faun Fables
Counterclockwise
Drag City DC945 (LP)

California’s Faun Fables emerged on the periphery of the early 2000s’ ‘New Weird America’ scene of progressive, folk-derived music. Here Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl delve back into Appalachian music and storytelling, with a hint of ’60s West Coast psychedelia, and even The Incredible String Band in the guitars, winds, bells and incantations of ‘The Wedding’. And with their three daughters also on vocals they revisit American folk revival family singing traditions. Ancient sounding chorales contrast with the instrumental complexity of the uncanny ‘Black Angels’, and in this eclectic mix even a cover of Yes’s ‘Wonderous Stories’ fits in nicely. MB

Sound Quality: 80%

Beatie Wolfe & Brian Eno
Luminal
Decca 7815743; LP: 7808164

It feels strange that Eno, a prolific theorist seemingly given to ceaseless mental activity, is so drawn towards producing uneventful ambient music. Half of this two-album collaboration with conceptual artist Wolfe is the ultra-minimal Lateral, but the song-based Luminal is where the (subdued) action is. It’s a coolly rendered if emotive set of songs, shaped by Wolfe’s guitars, while her singing is backed by Eno’s avuncular vocals – which are sometimes manipulated into strange shapes, as with ‘Play On’. It’s spacious, reverby, detailed, with jewel-like electronic textures, such as on ‘Breath March’ where buzzing signals are transmitted across a cloudy soundscape. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Bush
I Beat Loneliness
earMusic 4029759206606; LP: 4029759206095

Bush emerged in the early ’90s grunge milieu with a raw sound and a histrionic edge – albeit a little too close to Nirvana for some. Maturity has brought its benefits and here their formidable firepower is concentrated and channelled. On ‘I Am Here To Save Your Life’ the guitars start at metal intensity then allow space for Gavin Rossdale to wrestle with big issues in search of redemption – although a hint of the ubiquitous auto-tuning on his voice feels out of place. But Bush achieve a balance of intimate soul-bearing and a melodic, stadium-filling sound, and on the anthemic closer ‘Rebel With A Cause’, Rossdale seems to have achieved some kind of catharsis. MB

Sound Quality: 80%