Lætitia Sadier @ Le Poisson Rouge, June 13th, 2011
Photos & Review by Debbie Chou
Take away all the instruments in Stereolab and Monade, leaving just the lead vocals with a light electric guitar and you will get a mesmerizing solo performance by Lætitia Sadier. I was surprised to see she did not have a live band at le Poisson Rouge yesterday evening. But after hearing her play solo, I was convinced that her album The Trip would have still captured her fans if it were solely done on vocals and guitar.
She gave a brief description of what each song was about. If the song were in French, you would believe every word she is singing even if you didn’t understand a word of it. She sang about divorce in “Fluid Sand.” “Wash and Dance,” a song from her Monade days, consists of "angry lyrics that can be aimed toward Sarkozy, Berlusconi, and Obama." The song ends with a frustrated shout. Another Monade tune “Invitation” is an invitation to connect with one another, because nowadays “to connect is a revolutionary act.” She closed the set with her cover of Wendy & Bonnie’s “By the Sea.”
When Lætitia sings, the entire room is silent and all eyes are fixated on her. There is nothing pretentious about her pitch-perfect voice over her warm guitar chords. Her voice is haunting when low, angelic when high, and along with her sense of humor, it leaves us wanting more.
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