"It's a late August afternoon in England, and the three members of Saint Etienne are attempting to provide some much-needed emotional support over Zoom. I have just confronted them with the fact that their recent decision to split up is both premature and ludicrous. And the fact that they are bidding farewell to their fans with a glorious party record - "International," the trio's 13th album - is particularly venomous."
"The band emerged in the early '90s with a club-friendly cover of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart,' but to call it a dance-pop act would be a disservice to the astonishing body of work it's have amassed during the last 35 years. Yes, many Etienne hits rely on synthetic beats and a certain European, late-night summer glamour, but its mystique is equally informed by the pervasive nostalgia of Burt Bacharach and the cosmopolitan coolness of the '60s soundtracks by John Barry"
Saint Etienne announced a split while releasing International, a triumphant 13th album designed to feel energetic rather than final. The band intended to reference their 1991 debut Foxbase Alpha and to revive upbeat positivity so listeners might revisit earlier records. Band statements indicate the album purposely avoids sounding like a last record and mixes elements from their past work. The group rose in the early 1990s with a club-friendly Neil Young cover but evolved beyond dance-pop into richly orchestrated, nostalgic pop influenced by Burt Bacharach and '60s soundtrack composers. Notable moments include 1998's Good Humor and the Beach Boys–Dusty Springfield–inflected “Mr. Donut.”
Read at Los Angeles Times
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]