Find Me Finding You

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Laetitia Sadier has spent much of her career decrying capitalism, but on the Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble's debut album, Find Me Finding You, she responds to the late-2010s resurgence of right-wing forces with idealism instead of polemics. As she explores how politics are interconnected on a global and personal level, she reaffirms that the foundation of her beliefs is love. Not a sentimental, possessive love, but an "Undying Love for Humanity," as she describes it on the album's thrumming opening track. She illustrates her dreams of a society capable of open relationships and basic incomes with subtle, graceful songs like the standout "Love Captive," a duet with Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor on which Sadier declares "We were made to love, not to fall in love," and wonders "Can I love you and stay free?," while the way she and Taylor share lines instead of exchanging them suggests a different kind of partnership. The Source Ensemble is also a different kind of partnership, allowing her the support of a group and the freedom of a solo artist. She reunites with some of her Something Shines and Little Tornados collaborators -- including David Thayer, Emmanuel Mario, Xavi Munoz, Phil M FU, and Mason le Long -- who help her give Find Me Finding You a slightly more acoustic, down-to-earth sound than some of her previous work. That doesn't mean the music takes a back seat to the album's lyrical concerns, however: the satirical hedonism of "Psychology Active" is a quintessential expression of Sadier's viewpoint, but the way the song switches from ruminative to bustling is what lingers. More frequently, Sadier and company use the softness of bossa nova and easy listening in more straightforward ways than she did in Stereolab; the results, which span the drifting marimbas on "Reflectors" to the serene kosmiche leanings of "Committed," are some of her prettiest music in years. And aside from "Galactic Emergence"'s slo-mo psychedelia, much of the album is in English, as if to couch her thoughts in the clearest yet gentlest way possible; these are suggestions, not manifestos. Sadier's wish to equalize personal and economic relationships feels even more noble given the political climate in which the album was released, and Find Me Finding You is some of the warmest-sounding music yet from an unfailingly idealistic artist.

© Heather Phares /TiVo