Words and Music by Saint Etienne
Given their most recent 2005 studio album Tales From Turnpike House has been followed by a slew of greatest hits, deluxe reissues and other general career stocktake products, fans would’ve been forgiven for thinking that, two decades into their career, British indie-poppers Saint Etienne were preparing for musical retirement. Who could’ve predicted they’d come back storming with the best album of their career?
Led by the fragile vocals of the always gorgeous Sarah Cracknell, Words and Music is a concept album of sorts, detailing the average pop obsessive’s relationship to music. It’s there in the warm dancefloor rush of first single Tonight, which lovingly details the excitement that comes in the lead-up to seeing your favourite band in concert, and in the Kylie-esque follow up I’ve Got Your Music, which acts as a love letter to the transportational powers of a good pair of headphones. Elsewhere, there are plenty of bittersweet moments as Sarah and co grapple with growing older in When I Was Seventeen and the quietly heartrending opener Over The Border (“When I was married, and when I had kids, would Marc Bolan still be so important?” she ponders at one point).
Rarely does pop music come so smart, or with such heart.
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