LAETITIA SADIER

Just as her longtime band, the sadly kaput Stereolab, developed a singular signature sound informed by myriad disparate influences, Laetitia Sadier has settled into her own crypto-sophisticated groove. On her second solo album, the French-born poli-sci seductress works her usual magic, singing snazzy jazz-pop, lounge and psych-rock songs about the perils of modern living. Only this Nico-like chanteuse could coo a line like, “The ruling class neglects again responsibility / Overindulged children drawn to cruel games,” the key phrase in opener “The Rule of the Game,” and make it sound more sexy than didactic. When the sleepy, strummy tune breaks into a go-go Technicolor rave-up in the final minute, the switcheroo feels oddly natural. There’s even more sugar for the medicine on “Fragment Pour le Future de L’homme,” a funk-soul mover about being “lost in the century.” Expect to hear plenty of Silencio at this season’s swankier Occupy Wall Street get-togethers. –Kenneth Partridge