Released: 2024
It wasn’t an entirely unexpected paradox that Saint Etienne began to make their most captivating music the further they swam from the mainstream. In truth during their early nineties commercial apex as sleek and savvy as their projection felt at the time, even then the trio understood pop’s limitations far too well to be captives of them.
Their recorded career swansong International was you sensed a calculated exercise in proving they could still play Top of The Pops if they wanted to, but it’s predecessor The Night was a beguiling finale of a different sort. Composed in part of found sounds, samples and ambient drones, it was an attempt to find the liminal space between the consciousiousness and imagination, tones for the drowsy fug of happiness we rarely allow ourselves to enjoy.
There were real songs there too for the traditionalists, but it’s gossamer thin peak was Half Light, two minutes of glistery nothingness which evoked their Anglicised brand of Ye-Ye, but fuzzed and blissed out. It was the sound of a child’s music box being opened directly into a soul, and if whilst it wasn’t quite the end, it was a memento to be treasured by those who’d made the journey.
The Voice Of Unreason 