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The Trip feels like an expansion into new territory. Without Gane and his spacey-cool affectations, Sadier is free to revel in warm, rich balladry.
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The Trip is casual, low-stakes pop that is easy to live with.
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Where Stereolab's songwriting was tangential and detached, with lyrics arranged around the melody, Sadier's solo work is deeply reflective, her words at center stage.
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Caressed by gentle guitars and synths, her elegantly serene voice and airy melodies impart a sense of stubborn, reassuring endurance in the face of soul-crushing melancholy.
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Under The RadarOct 26, 2010This is a gentler, more serene affair, ad one that fits the tracks' ruminations on decidedly grave subject matters like a glove. [Fall 2010, p.68]
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Covers aside, this is the most personal music of Sadier's career, and a promising glimpse of what she can do on her own.
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With The Trip, she's split the difference, crafting a modestly arranged work that showcases a variety of strengths we already knew she had.
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The WireHer voice remains a beguiling instrument, but there's a sense that the attempt to ditch the kitsch and connect more directly is compromising the originality of her vision. [Oct 2010, p.60]
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There is definitely some promise in Laetitia Sadier's solo work, but the material here feels more like rough sketches than finished product. That said, if you were a Stereolab fan and have withdrawal symptons, this will definitely satisfy your curiosities.
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The Trip is Laetitia Sadier's most confident sounding work apart from Stereolab. Melodic throughout and arranged with her eyes on the fullness of the sound, it is leavened with highlights. In truth, the biggest flaws are that, though it's thematically taut to begin with, any threads that link the album dissolve as it progresses, and that Gershwin cover is a slight disappointment.
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UncutSadier's intonation can be awkward, but her compassionate yet detached voice remains as affecting as ever. [Nov 2010, p.97]
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Q MagazineIt all makes for an engaging and frequently charming solo debut. [Nov 2010, p.114]
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If you want to hear this sort of thing done properly, you'll find happiness in the more sedate moments of the peerless Saint Etienne, but there's little to recommend The Trip. It's not much more than a Christmas bauble: shiny and polished on the surface, but with little of substance on the inside.