Well, I've got good news and bad news on the Saint Etienne front. The good news is a sleuthy friend got a copy of the band's new album, "The Night," a day before its release and sent it to me as an early Christmas present. (Thanks, Jimmy!)
The bad news is that, as I feared, it's another one of the trio's atmospheric bullshit efforts, as I refer to them. (To be clear: They're perfectly lovely background music, they're just not real Saint Etienne albums.)
Like 2021's "I've Been Trying to Tell You," which another superfan described as the band's first real bomb -- "should have just been a fan club freebie if that" -- "The Night" is again mainly just meditation music with Sarah talking or whispering over it, with an occasional greater effort. (Is it even worth a trip to the studio just to do that?)
But as my Saintly BFF and I went on to say, our adoration lives on.
He texted:
But I'm still hardcore. I just went to Sweden just to visit their studio for "Good Humor" ...
To which I replied:
We went to Finisterre [on our honeymoon]. And yesterday I sent "Goodnight Jack" to my mom's 70-year-old cousin who drove a Mercury Capri in the 1970s, so I hear ya.
He then wrote:
"Milk Bottle Symphony" breaks my heart because my mother's maiden name is Doris Brown. "Tales From the Turnpike" and "Words and Music" were both very underrated. "Tonight" might be my favorite song by them. And damn it, if I wasn't a day late I'd be in the "I've Got Your Music" video. Fuck. I missed the deadline. My video would have been great. Standing in front of Fairfax High (Virginia) with my favorite album ["So Tough"].
Fans were invited to contribute to this delightful 2012 video
Me:
Here's hoping they have one more classic up their sleeves.I remember that. You'd have been a welcome addition!
UPDATE: Go figure. The band shared a bunch of reviews that love the album for all the reasons I do not.
2 comments:
Ah yes i had a feeling this would be another snore. So sad. Hopefully we will get another amazing electronic fun outing at some point. I've Got Your Music and Tonight are two of my recent SE faves!
And yes, after 30+ years of fine releases it's not the next classic album we've been waiting for, it makes me want to drink gin out of a flask while sitting on a bus going through the British countryside on a dreary December day. 'You're in a Bad Way' they once put it. But I read an album review somewhere yesterday that they have a 'pop' album on the way in summer 2025, so there's hope.
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