Saint Etienne -- Home Counties

Cracknell is so mild that I forgot it takes a couple spins for me to love their albums, as I love this one now.

This is the album I always hoped they would make. Turns out Saint Etienne and Shawn Lee are a perfect match. Probably my LP of the year so far. (Not sure about "Sweet Arcadia", spoken word lists of exotic English places feels like a St. Et parody by this point. The rest is ace though.)

Also kudos for the packaging, especially the fake stickers on the front cover (which as someone who habitually peels/scrapes off stickers from CD and vinyl front covers is going to drive me crazy for ever).

It's odd they released one of the album's least catchy songs as a single when they had "Out of My Mind," "Dive," "Magpie Eyes," and "Train Drivers in Eyeliner."

"dive" is so fuckin good

It's odd they released one of the album's least catchy songs as a single when they had "Out of My Mind," "Dive," "Magpie Eyes," and "Train Drivers in Eyeliner."

hmm I've got the "Heather' single. Could it be an American release?

To my knowledge, "Heather" was like a teaser track, and "Magpie Eyes" the 'official' single. Not sure it's important, since neither was released in physical formats (were they?)

(Either way, I agree with the sentiment.)

Cracknell is so mild that I forgot it takes a couple spins for me to love their albums, as I love this one now.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, June 4, 2017 7:52 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think it's pretty amazing what she can convey w/her more mild presence. on every album of theirs she has at least 3 or 4 vocal performances that are pretty stunning but it usually takes multiple listens for me to get everything she's doing. cf. Stop and Think It Over from Finisterre, Underneath the Stars from her solo album, Marble Lions from Tiger Bay...many more. her mildness tends to at first make you miss how good she is at delivering some of the lyrics. (not disagreeing with you here, i think "mild" in her case is a compliment.)

It is! And those picks are otm.

"Marble Lions" is her masterpiece maybe - that devastating combination of wisdom and generosity her vocals capture, as if she can see every single one of your failures but cares for you anyway.

(Have yet to hear the new record)

She reminds me of Christine McVie absent a bit of the sensuality.

i think her delivery of:

Marble lions
at the gates of Eden
Screaming songs to lull the rage.
Let's raise a flag
that has no colours,
Release the sun into the empty cathedral, yeah.

is probably her single greatest moment

The way she sings the commonplace "The devil's in the details" on the new album's "Unopened Fan Mail" is the key to her continuing charm and warmth.

(Have yet to hear the new record)

― Tim F, Monday, June 5, 2017 12:50 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i think you'll love it tim

it's more chamber-y and miniaturist than anything on words and music but they work a lot of full-bodied jams out of a more restrained palette

has anyone mentioned "take it all in" yet, it's magnificent

An interview with Cracknell.

From that interview:

I love the transition between “Angel of Woodhatch” and “The Reunion”

I ended up loving this album.

Any "Cool Kids of Death"-style bangers on this album?

Nope, not even close.

You'd need Rick Smith programming the synths to get something as good as Cool Kids of Death.

Yeah the 14 minute Underworld mix is probably my favourite thing they ever did. But then there were a lot of cool bangers on the bonus disc from Words & Music. Love that extra disc - the first 7 or 8 in a row are all superb.

Which one? There's been a few..

Oh, the first 'remix' one, right.

lol at 'Hatfield and The North!' 'err-aaarrrgkg'

feelin this on the new dive ep ~ 18 views !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFoUzigkmN8

The CD EP sold out too fast. I had it in my cart on my phone and the checkout page wouldn't load so I waited a day to order and it was gone. Got the 12" but wanted the CD too. Still enjoying the songs on this album.

I said of the LP that they were parodying themselves a bit. "London Like A Distant Sun" is an uber-self-parody. It's magnificent.

anyone catching their Sept/Oct US gigs? I'm hoping the energy's as good as their W&M tour!

I am, it's my first time and I'm super stoked

Same here, very much looking forward to the SF show!

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/sarah-cracknell-on-how-to-be-in-the-same-band-for-25-years-and-still-enjoy-it/

I think they're the band for which I had the longest run of "buying every release". Used to love their CD singles. Still not heard the latest album, mind (Have had it on order from Norman Records for an age ... Should cancel it, really).

Well last night was very great -- that Sarah described herself as 'slightly poorly,' kept sipping tea and encouraged us to sing along loudly on the choruses made it all even better, really. (Debsey's presence was perfect as a result.) Solid mix of early standards, stuff from the new album (Shawn Lee, who produced, was also the opener and appeared on various songs in the set) and some ringers here and there, including a small clutch of Words and Music tracks. Any set that started with "Kiss and Make Up," had a first encore ending with "He's On the Phone" and a second encore with "You're In a Bad Way" is all right by me. The amount of passionate gay men of a certain age and beard length around me who were having happy breakdowns when 'their song' came on, whichever song in question it was, was very sweet, really.

Ditto on the Seattle show being great, though we just got one encore. The tea sipping was endearing, but as with past shows I've seen, Sarah has the crowd already in her palm before she walks out. Loved Debsey's dancing and singing, and the drummer made the songs even punchier to me. The screen cards ("Please Pardon Our Appearance", "We're Actually Very Tired", "This is a Saint Etienne Show") were fun, as were the visuals (I haven't seen "Barbarella", but recognized Fonda, and enjoyed those cycled clips). I was up in the balcony but peering over, the floor seemed easily 3/4ths men in their 30s/40s. There were enough younger folk, felt like they're still gaining fans.

St. Etienne put on one of my fave shows of all time behind "Good Humour." Saw them a second time on the same tour, again with a killer band. Then I saw them as a trio with tons of backing tracks and it just totally lacked the spark (for me). If I had known they were touring with a band again I totally would have gone last night. Oh well.

I was at the Seattle show. Sarah was really struggling. I almost left about 20mins in, but i'm glad I stuck around. It was easily the worst St. Etienne show i've seen though.

The screen cards ("Please Pardon Our Appearance", "We're Actually Very Tired", "This is a Saint Etienne Show") were fun, as were the visuals (I haven't seen "Barbarella", but recognized Fonda, and enjoyed those cycled clips).

Ah now that's interesting -- we didn't get those at all! No projections, just lights. Wonder why?

Who was the older english man on keyboards off to the right? He was also at the incredibly disappointing merch table.

I think it may have been Gerard Johnson: https://www.discogs.com/artist/240866-Gerard-Johnson

Merch table was about what I expected, honestly.

Anyway, setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/saint-etienne/2017/the-fillmore-san-francisco-ca-7be3a254.html

Not sure what SF had, but we had signed posters, cd remixes for Dive, and 1 size of 1 style of women's t-shirts. There is a ton of merch on their greedbag store. I kind of assumed I'd be able to support them by buying something direct, but there was nothing I needed.

Bought the signed poster for that same support reason. Was hoping for the Dive single with the non-album tracks, but no luck.

Yeah, I need the Dive single with the non-album tracks too. I have several signed items from Saint Etienne over the years and don't really care about signatures, so the poster wasn't a big draw for me. I bought the deluxe LP w/ signed print already.

SF gig was fantastic! Enthusiastic crowd, too. I thought Sarah sounded great. Wouldn't have even noticed she was ill had she not mentioned it.

I'm more into synthy Saint Etienne than full-band Saint Etienne, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but wow - what a tight ensemble! 'Out of My Mind' had a great guitar solo outro, and the guitar + bass really made 'Magpie Eyes' rock hard (not really into it on the album).

we saw them in L.A. Friday night and Sarah was having trouble at the beginning but seemed to get stronger as the night went along (the bourbon maybe helped?) She was charming throughout as per usual. I thought it was a great show. Super tight band, the new tunes sounded great, enthusiastic audience, positive vibes all around. Debsey was killing it in particular. So much cowbell!