GOODBYE MARY

Stereolab’s music had become something that I experienced more through the prism of memory than I did in the moment. I heard them now in unbent white light.

Margerine Eclipse, with its Margerine Rock and Margerine Melodie and Dear Marge was clearly a heartfelt tribute to Mary Hansen, who had been killed in an accident after the release of Sound-Dust.

Mary brought warmth to the group, and served as a counterbalance to Laetitia's husky world weariness. While Laetitia occasionally treed herself with aloof theory, Mary exuded openness and simple humanity. Much of Margerine Eclipse is an effort at reconciling the “Let live what must live, die what must die” philosophy of Sound-Dust with the reality of a friend's death.

And while objectively I knew this was at least a partial return to top Decision Rock form, I could never muster much enthusiasm for it.

Because I tend to travel in cycles of obsession...