Stereolab have shared their new single ‘Melodie Is A Wound‘, a delightful follow-up single to their new album’s announcement earlier in the month, a looping woozy carousel of analogue synths, clip clopping drum machine beats and dexterous guitar licks, garnished with Laetitia Sadier’s magnetic vocals and top toeing, beguiling melodies. It sounds like an escapist peer across the vista following a sunny stroll down the promenade. It arrives alongside a Stereolab-themed cryptic crossword puzzle. The crossword has been compiled by Alan Connor, who works as the crossword editor for The Guardian.
Stereolab’s forthcoming album, Instant Holograms On Metal Film, will be available on 23rd May 2025, co-released by the band’s own label Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records. Their first new record in 15 years, it features thirteen songs written by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane; performed by Laetitia, Tim, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz, who comprise the current touring line-up 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.
Instant Holograms On Metal Film will be available on double vinyl LP in standard and colour variants, as well as compact disc and digital formats. Pre-order/save it here.
Alan is also a Stereolab fan, and comments:
“Writing this puzzle, I felt an unfamiliar sensation, at first in my knees. A recovered memory of Stereolab in a venue which sent the group’s noise bursts – bass? sub-bass? Whatever might be under that? – directly inside each of us in the crowd, reshaping us in wonderful ways. No one else has done that, but then no one else has done the alchemic things Stereolab has done. Happily for me, this is a band fond of titles which read just like fragments of cryptic clues. So long, that is, as your brain has been suitably warped by puzzles. Happily, mine has been warped this way – as well as my body by Stereolab. Thank you for the warping, thank you Warp and thank you Stereolab. By the way, I sincerely believe that anyone in public life would do public life better if they listened to Emperor Tomato Ketchup’s “Tomorrow Is Already Here” a few times. What was then the future has borne out that one plenty.”
Previously, 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 past few days, several attempts have been made to solve the wordsearch, with much online speculation about how the words go together, and whether the single did indeed contain new music, or something uncovered from the band’s archives.
And in lieu of a description of the music, the band are inviting fans, detractors, and journalists alike to provide their own adjectives on a fill-in-the-blanks sheet.
The album art was first slowly revealed on the Lab Report sign-up page of the band’s website, with different layers gradually appearing. The 7” started landing with people on 2nd April 2025, sixteen years to the day after the group announced they were going on indefinite hiatus. In 2019, the band released expanded and remastered editions of seven of their studio albums, coinciding with Stereolab playing 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.
Instant Holograms On Metal Film Tracklist:
- Mystical Plosives
- Aerial Troubles
- Melodie Is A Wound
- Immortal Hands
- Vermona F Transistor
- Le Coeur Et La Force
- Electrified Teenybop!
- Transmuted Matter
- Esemplastic Creeping Eruption
- If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt.1
- Flashes From Everywhere
- Colour Television
- If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt.2
Stereolab are touring globally this year with UK dates in December, including newly announced dates in London, Wolverhampton, and a tour warm-up show at The Booking Hall in Dover on 24th May. Many shows are now sold out. See a full list of live dates below.
May 2025
24th – The Booking Hall – Dover, England – SOLD OUT
25th – Botanique [Les Nuits Botanique] – Brussels, Belgium
26th – Gloria – Köln, Germany
28th – Grunspan – Hamburg, Germany
29th – Huxleys Neue Welt – Berlin, Germany
30th – Zoom – Frankfurt, Germany
31st – Paradiso – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
June 2025
1st – Doornroosje – Nijmegen, The Netherlands
3rd – Stereolux – Nantes, France
4th – Le Trianon – Paris, France – SOLD OUT
5th – Barbey – Bordeaux, France
6th – Primavera Sound – Barcelona, Spain – SOLD OUT
7th – Teatro Eslava – Madrid, Spain
9th – La Belle Electrique – Grenoble, France
10th – Ferrara Sotto le Stelle [Cortile del Castello] – Ferrara, Italy
11th – Volkshaus – Zurich, Switzerland
12th – Hansa 36 – Munich, Germany
14th – Tvornica Kulture – Zagreb, Croatia
15th – A38 Ship – Budapest, Hungary – Events – A38 Ship
16th – WUK – Vienna, Austria – on sale here
17th – Meet Factory – Prague, Czech Republic – on sale here
19th – Manufaktur – Schorndorf, Germany
20th – Den Atelier – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
July 2025
11th – Siren Festival – Arena In The Fiera – Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
September 2025
13th – Brooklyn Bowl – Nashville, TN
14th – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
16th – Miami Beach Bandshell – Miami, FL
18th – Civic Theatre – New Orleans, LA
19th – Georgia Theatre – Athens, GA
20th – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
21st – Haw River Ballroom – Saxapahaw, NC – SOLD OUT
23rd – The Howard Theatre – Washington, DC
24th – Union Transfer – Philadelphia. PA – SOLD OUT
26th – Royale – Boston, MA
27th – State Theatre – Portland, ME
October 2025
1st – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY – SOLD OUT
2nd – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY
3rd – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT – SOLD OUT
4th – Théâtre Beanfield – Montreal, QC – SOLD OUT
6th – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON – SOLD OUT
7th – Asbury Hall – Buffalo, NY
8th – Globe Iron – Cleveland, OH
9th – Metro – Chicago, IL – SOLD OUT
10th – Metro – Chicago, IL – SOLD OUT
11th – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
12th – Hancher Auditorium at the Englert Theatre – Iowa City, IA
14th – Gothic Theatre – Denver, CO
17th – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
18th – Neptune Theatre – Seattle, WA – SOLD OUT
19th – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
21st – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA – SOLD OUT
22nd – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
24th – Rio Theatre – Santa Cruz, CA – SOLD OUT
25th – The Bellwether – Los Angeles, CA – SOLD OUT
26th – The Bellwether – Los Angeles, CA – SOLD OUT
28th – Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA
30th – Ballroom Marfa – Marfa, TX – SOLD OUT
31st – TBC – Austin, TX
November 2025
1st – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX
2nd – Granada Theatre – Dallas, TX
4th – Complejo Art Media – Buenos Aires, Argentina
7th/8th – Fauna Primavera – Santiago, Chile
9th – Balaclava Fest – São Paulo, Brazil
12th – Foro Indie Rocks! – Mexico City, Mexico – SOLD OUT
13th – Foro Indie Rock! – Mexico City, Mexico
December 2025
5th – Brighton Dome Corn Exchange – Brighton, England
6th – Royal Festival Hall – London, England – SOLD OUT
8th – SWG3 Galvanisers – Glasgow, Scotland
9th – Project House – Leeds, England
11th – O2 Ritz – Manchester, England
12th – Wulfrun Hall – Wolverhampton, England
13th – O2 Academy – Oxford, England – SOLD OUT
14th – Brixton Electric – London, England
Photo credit: Joe Dilworth
