saint etienne

That's what I thought, but you wouldn't put it past them..

(it says "dual disc" format, but)

I'm not totally sold on these new songs. The opener really feels like a slog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWs4uXfI8KE

How dare you (have a perfectly fine and valid individual opinion that might still be wrong somehow but anyway :-D ).

Is there a remix disc? That was the best part of the last one.

St Etienne without bangers seems wrong.

The deluxe CD version has a DVD with the film, but I think that's it.

good for a b-side, terrible for an album opener

Is it just me or is there a weird trebly compression thing on Pond House? If it’s on purpose it kinda ruins this otherwise lush song for me

Oh, I like "Music Again".

that was really boring!

Pond Life is better, but the repetition of the Natalie Imbruglia sample gets a bit annoying towards the end.

Interview about the new album in today's Observer:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/05/saint-etienne-ive-been-trying-to-tell-you-interview-bfi-season

The original version of that Guardian photo is here:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/sep/04/original-observer-photography

I must admit, I thought "Pete looks healthy!"

I’ve been a fan for over 25 years and only recently realised I’d spent that whole time thinking Bob was Pete and Pete was Bob.

I just listened to Penlop, then Pond Life again - really like the sound of this LP, and interested in how it relates to the "just thinkin baot the 90s" talk in that interview

contrary to opinion stated above i'm quite happy with banger-free St Et - always enjoy them more when they're being a bit odd

this album is so so good

ppl who thought "music again" was boring might not be convinced, even though you're all wrong

alright I'll listen but I'm still creeped out by the cover

It is a bizarre choice. Of all the imagery that could be used. For one out of only a dozen or so artistic statements of one's oeuvre.

i am genuinely perplexed by yalls problems with the cover

good record and "music again" is good

Crikey, I'm listening now having been off the Saint Etienne bus for a few years and it's really good! Kind of like they've 'done a Burial'.

Had a message that my copy has been delayed due to Brexit so have played on Spotify. On one play through it sounds like a cross between a b-sides collection and one of their soundtracks ... and both those things appeal to me. Might sound different when I play the actual CD (rather than via my computer) but it does sound a bit ... not quite right.

Had a quick look at Tim's Listening Party Twitter thing and came away with a slight impression that it was a Pete Wiggs album with Bob/Sarah poking him with a (virtual) stick but I might be being moody/drunk.

I like the cover, that's Aysgarth Falls in the background

This wasn't what I was expecting. I'm sure I love it in jees - next week - but there aren't any Sarah songs

OK Penlop came in

I do wish there were more Sarah, but as a fan of their weirder stuff like 'Interlude,' 'Places to Visit,' and 'Surrey North,' I can dig it.

'Fonteyn' is the standout for me. It would fit nicely next to 'Heart Failed' or 'Shower Scene' in a live set. Just sayin'.

I’ve been a fan for over 25 years and only recently realised I’d spent that whole time thinking Bob was Pete and Pete was Bob.

Yes I am having a real Berenstain Bears moment here

Beautiful album. Even the pre-release songs sound good to me now.

very into this on first listen. probably the most excited I've been about them since belatedly hearing Sound of Water & Finisterre in the later 00s.

I think this is fabulous - it's like if Charles Webster tried to recreate One Dove's Morning Dove White.

Gonna listen this weekend, have a fondness for the casino classics remix album from the early nineties, British electronic bigwigs from the time, all present...underworld, chemical bros, the aloof, Andrew Weatherall, aphex twin.

St ettiene - Angel (broadcast mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gd3Kzu3L0Q

St Etienne - Who do you think you are : Aphex Twin mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLbqbc3ZEc

The film is basically ‘46 minutes of shirtless youths vibing’ so the record cover is absolutely not out of step with the aesthetic of the overall project.

That sounds more dismissive than intended but if you know Alasdair McLellan’s photography, you’ll know what to expect from the film.

I was initially disappointed by the two songs that came out early, but hearing this all together in album form has completely changed my mind. This is a great album. Kind of glad there aren't many lyrics. Though I love Sarah's voice, I feel the lyrical content has been one of the things I haven't enjoyed on the recent albums. I have liked the recent stuff but they're not albums I want to put on when I get in the St Etienne mood. This one seems like it will fit my mood quite well this fall/winter.

sounds like a bonus disc for a Saint Etienne album without the actual album

Yeah that's how I found it on first listen also. I love lots of their drifty more ambient stuff but this seems too slight to me so far.

Same

I don't know: I found the lyrics on W&M pretty sharp.

Loving this wholeheartedly on the third playthrough. So Tough was always my favorite and this evokes it in all the right ways.

I’m happy to hear the So Tough box set is coming. So Tough and You Need A Mess of Help are the albums I want to hear most often. I wonder if anything will be included on the box set that isn’t on the 2cd reissue.

Penlop is nice, but it was nicer when Manual remixed Dressed in Black for Blue Foundation in 2014

i probably would have really liked this album if they'd written songs over the top of these tracks

as is there's some nice moments but this approach for a full album doesn't really capture my interest enough

Halfway through and totally loving this. Might already be by favorite of theirs since Tiger Bay as they went back to that vague floating vibe they lost somewhere along the way.

St Et records *often* don't hit me right away, feeling at first like collections of unassuming chord progressions cycling endlessly. The song'y elements traditionally assert themselves later, but in the relative absence of actual songs (ufo otm) the, er, raw sonic textures will need to do an awful lot of work over subsequent listens.

Just as I write that 'Blue Kite' comes back on shuffle and, yeah, the textures *can* be very appealing, so there's hope.

yeh I'm consciously remaining open to this one finding its place with time/repeated listens

really intrigued by this move though - its a very unassuming LP to release as a Proper Album - not song-y but also not quite as immersive as stuff like Railway Jam or Johnny in the Echo Cafe

i do like the autumnal vibe tho

re the "weird internet music" referenced in that observer article - does that mean vapourwave kind of stuff? i could see Nobody Here being an influence on this

I'd definitely play a < Saint Etienne's guide to "weird internet music" >.

I'm old so I'm hearing an "album's worth of 4th track on the CD single" thing to this (but that's a good thing).

Is it the first full St Et thing that Pete is crediting with producing?

*credited*

(Wine may have happened).

Weird. There's a Natalie Imbruglia interview in the Guardian (the interview does note that it's the Australia Guardian) that's very much "The 90s are trending" and felt certain it was going to slightly hang on this. No mention of it, obvs.