Stereolab synthesist treads the line between the funk and the fear
Who She?
Morgane Lhote is no stranger to flitting between musical projects. She’s Stereolab alumni, playing with the band as lead synthesist between 1995 and 2001. She then had a brief spell with indie popsters The Projects and an even briefer spell in the folktronicky Garden with James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco. Now she’s striking out on her tod as Hologram Teen.
Why Hologram Teen?
Morgane describes her music as “Fabio Frizzi meets Grandmaster Flash”. It’s certainly electronic, but with some proggy undertones and a John Carpenter-at-a-disco feeling, like a danceable horror film soundtrack. She released her debut single as Hologram Teen last year, the cleverly titled ‘Post-Apocalypteacakes’ on Deep Distance, which found her a clutch of new fans, including Jarvis Cocker.
Tell Us More
Her latest offering, a seven-inch twin-tracker combining ‘Marsangst’ and ‘Hex These Rules’ for Happy Robots Records, builds on the horror disco idea while giving it a shove in another direction. “With ‘Marsangst,’ I wanted to write a minimal techno track that still retained groovy, more dance-like elements, with a splash of krautrock and a futuristic vibe,” she says. ‘Hex These Rules’ meanwhile grooves along with bouncy synths and dead funky drums, offset against howling vocals. Quite literally howling vocals, that is. Add in some zany cover art to go with the genre bending music and, as Morgane Lhote proudly declares, “There’s never a dull day in the Hologram Teen galaxy”.
‘Marsangst’ / ‘Hex These Rules’ is out on Happy Robots
