The band embraced indie pop on Good Humor (1998), with its lead single "Sylvie" reaching number twelve. By the new millennium, Saint Etienne had pivoted towards ambient music on Sound of Water (2000), while Finisterre (2002) and Tales From Turnpike House (2005) distilled these stylistic diversions and a return to their early influences. The 2010s, with Words and Music (2012) and Home Counties (2017), saw a contemporary update of their sound. The band incorporated samples for the first time in nearly two decades on I've Been Trying to Tell You (2021), which became their highest-charting album since 1994 at number fourteen.
Saint Etienne were associated with the "indie dance" genre in the early 1990s.[4] Their typical approach was to combine sonic elements (such as samples and digitally synthesized sounds) of the dance-pop that emerged in the wake of the so-called Second Summer of Love with an emphasis on songwriting involving romantic and introspective themes more commonly associated with traditional British pop and rock music. Early work demonstrated the influence of 1960s soul, 1970s dub and rock as well as 1980s dance music, giving them a broad palette of sounds and a reputation for eclecticism. Years later, The Times wrote that they "deftly fused the grooviness of Swinging Sixties London with a post-acid house backbeat".[9] Their first two albums, Foxbase Alpha and So Tough, feature sounds chiefly associated with house music, such as standard TR-909 drum patterns and Italo house piano riffs mixed with original sounds, notable by the use of found dialogue, sampled from 1960s British realist cinema.[10]
In 1991, the band also released two singles, "7 Ways to Love" and "He Is Cola", under the name Cola Boy with different singers (one of them being future radio personality Janey Lee Grace, who recorded and appeared in the video for the former); their explanation for publishing under a pen name is that the tracks were "too cheesy for Saint Etienne. We'd have been finished overnight".[11][12] The band would later produce an updated electro-house version of "7 Ways to Love" for Japanese singer Nokko for her 1993 album "I Will Catch U" (also known as "Call Me Nightlife" for the United States, Canada and Europe), in which she added lyrics to the song in both Japanese and English.[13]
During the early 1990s the group enjoyed extensive coverage in UK music weekly papers NME and Melody Maker and gained a reputation as purveyors of "pure pop" in the period immediately prior to the Brit-Pop explosion. So Tough reached No.7 in the UK Albums Chart. Their most popular singles of this period were "You're in a Bad Way" and "Join Our Club" (which reached No.12 and No.21 in the UK Singles Chart).[14]
Tiger Bay (1994) represented a change of direction: the entire album was inspired by folk music, combined with modern electronica.[4] Although the album reached No.8 in the UK Albums Chart, the singles performed disappointingly, with "Pale Movie", "Like a Motorway" and "Hug My Soul" reaching No.28, No.47 and No.32 in the UK Singles Chart. In a 2009 interview, Bob Stanley said that in retrospect the band "got ahead of ourselves a bit" by releasing such an uncommercial album, which "definitely could have done with a couple more obvious songs".[15]
In 1995, they released their most successful single, "He's on the Phone", a reworking of Étienne Daho's "Week-end à Rome" that they had created for a collaborative EP with Daho entitled Reserection. It reached No.11 on the UK chart.
Stanley has said that with hindsight it was "a bit stupid" that the band "didn't release another single for two and a half years".[15] Instead, they released a compilation album, Too Young to Die (1996),[4] contributed a song to the Gary Numantribute albumRandom the following year, and then returned in 1998 with Good Humor, which de-emphasized the contemporary dance music influence on their previous work, replacing it with a more traditional sound. Also in 1998 they covered "La, la, la" on A Song for Eurotrash, a compilation of re-imagined past hits from the Eurovision Song Contest.[16] (The song can be found on Fairfax High.)
Finisterre was released in 2002. A follow-up DVD by photographer and film maker Paul Kelly was released in 4July2005(2005-07-04). In November 2004, they released their first US compilation of greatest hits, called Travel Edition 1990-2005. 13 June 2005 saw the release of the band's album Tales from Turnpike House. It was preceded by a single for the track "Side Streets". A second single, "A Good Thing", was released in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2005. Early editions of the album were accompanied by a six-track sampler CD for a planned album of children's songs entitled Up the Wooden Hills.
After years floating around various record labels, the band returned to its original label Heavenly for their 2009 career retrospective, London Conversations: The Best of Saint Etienne. The album contained two singles, a reworked "Burnt Out Car" and a new track, the Richard X-produced "Method of Modern Love". The album also contained as a third "new" track, a remix by Richard X of the previously vinyl-only "This is Tomorrow".
In May 2012, following the January release of the single "Tonight", the band released their eighth studio album, Words and Music by Saint Etienne.[18] Saint Etienne's ninth studio album, Home Counties, was released on 2 June 2017.[19]
Their tenth album, I've Been Trying to Tell You, was released on 10 September 2021.[20] According to Pete Wiggs, the album was a lockdown project for the trio during the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to which they were working on a different set of tracks. In September 2021, he confirmed the group planned to revisit the material for a possible 2022 release.[21]
1993's non-album single "Who Do You Think You Are" is a cover of a song by Candlewick Green. Saint Etienne recorded it as a duet with Debsey Wykes, former singer of Dolly Mixture. The song was also remixed by Aphex Twin.
In 1993, the band collaborated with Kylie Minogue for two songs: a cover of "Nothing Can Stop Us" (intended at the time to be her first single release for her new label) and "When Are You Coming Home" (unreleased).
In 1995, the band co-recorded the Reserection EP with French pop singer Étienne Daho; later, they also worked on his album Eden and single "Le Premier Jour".
For the band's first greatest hits compilation, Too Young to Die – The Singles (1995), Eurodance producer Steve Rodway reworked the track "Accident" from the Reserection EP, producing the renamed single "He's on the Phone." The single, co-credited to Daho, gained the singer additional exposure to English-speaking audiences.
In 2000, the band crossed genres by working with trance producer and DJ Paul van Dyk, resulting in the single "Tell Me Why (The Riddle)", with vocals by Cracknell.
The 2005 album Tales from Turnpike House features David Essex as a guest vocalist. Several tracks on the album were co-written and co-produced by Brian Higgins' songwriting production team, Xenomania.
Sarah Cracknell has collaborated with Marc Almond on his single "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" for his album Stardom Road.
In addition to the Richard X collaboration on the "This is Tomorrow"/"Method of Modern Love" single, 2009 also saw the limited release of Foxbase Beta, the producer's reworking of the band's debut album Foxbase Alpha.[22]
The 1998 album The Misadventures of Saint Etienne is the soundtrack to the independent filmThe Misadventures of Margaret, starring Parker Posey. After the soundtrack was completed, the film's producers opted to replace it with a more "conventional" soundtrack, but a number of tracks can still be heard in the background of the film's final version, and Saint Etienne received top "original music" credit on the film. The band also recorded a duet by Cracknell and Posey titled "Secret Love" for the soundtrack, but due to legal entanglements it has never been released.[citation needed]
The band recorded the theme song and incidental music for Maryoku Yummy, a 2010 children's television show that aired on Tiny Pop and The Hub.
The band has also been involved directly in film production, notably collaborating with filmmaker Paul Kelly on several short films documenting the landscape and history of London. The first of these was Finisterre (2002), set to songs from the album of the same name, inspired by the 1967 film The London Nobody Knows and Patrick Keiller's 1994 film London.[23] A series of three-minute films entitled "Today's Special" (2004) documented "London's disappearing cafés",[23] while What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day? (2005) looked at the landscape of the Lower Lea Valley, which was about to be transformed by the 2012 London Olympics. The band then revisited the area in 2012 for a short entitled Seven Summers.
In 2007, the band produced This Is Tomorrow in their capacity as artists-in-residence at the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall, telling the story of the Hall's first 50years. This Is Tomorrow premiered on 29 June 2007 as part of the Hall's opening season with the band performing the film soundtrack live. Most recently, in 2014, Saint Etienne and Kelly collaborated on How We Used To Live, a view of London from 1945 to 1980, making extensive use of archive film.
The band's most recent film is I've Been Trying to Tell You (2021), directed by Alasdair McLellan and set to the music of the album of the same name. Unlike their previous films, it was filmed all around England; its premise was memories of teenage years and the late 1990s.[24]
Songs in other films and television
"Like a Motorway" appears on the soundtrack of the 1994 film Speed, although the single is never heard in the actual film itself.[25]
Their song "Hobart Paving", with slightly altered lyrics (replacing the title lyric with the line "Hold on princess...") and an altered title ("Catch Me"), was covered for the soundtrack of the 1997 film Bandits, and was an integral part of the soundtrack album (one of two promotional videos released for the soundtrack was for the song), which became the best-selling soundtrack album to a European film soon after release. Actor/musician Jasmin Tabatabai still performs that version in concert.[citation needed]
"A Good Thing", co-written by Cracknell, Mark Waterfield and Lawrence Oakley, is featured in Pedro Almodóvar's 2006 film Volver and in the Grey's Anatomyseason 2 episode "Tell Me Sweet Little Lies".
Étienne Daho is a French singer-songwriter. He has released a number of synth-driven and rock-surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981.
Finisterre is the sixth studio album by English alternative dance band Saint Etienne, released on 7 October 2002 by Mantra Records. A double-disc deluxe edition was released on 3 May 2010 by Heavenly Records.
Sarah Jane Cracknell is an English singer-songwriter and lead singer of the electronic music band Saint Etienne.
Sound of Water is the fifth studio album by Saint Etienne, released in 2000.
Foxbase Alpha is the debut studio album by English band Saint Etienne, released on 16 September 1991 by Heavenly Recordings.
Reserection is an extended play (EP) by English alternative dance band Saint Etienne and French singer Étienne Daho, under the collective name St. Etienne Daho. It was released on 29 September 1995 by Virgin Records.
Too Young to Die – Singles 1990–1995 is a compilation album by English indie dance band Saint Etienne released on 13 November, 1995, collecting the group's singles spanning the period of 1990 to 1995.
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist Neil Young. It has been covered by many other artists.
"You're in a Bad Way" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne, released in February 1993 by Heavenly and Warner as the second single from their second album, So Tough (1993). The song is a deliberately old-fashioned throwback to 1960s pop music. In an interview with Melody Maker magazine, Bob Stanley claims that it was written in ten minutes as a simple imitation of Herman's Hermits, and was only intended to be a B-side to "Everlasting", but the record company decided that it should be a single. "Everlasting" was dropped as a single and remained unreleased until it was eventually included on disc 2 on the deluxe edition of So Tough in 2009.
"He's on the Phone" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne in collaboration with French singer-songwriter Étienne Daho, released in October 1995 by Heavenly and MCA as a single from their third compilation album, Too Young to Die (1995). A fast-paced dance track, it is one of Saint Etienne's biggest hits, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, number 31 in Iceland, number 41 in Sweden and number 33 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. The lyrics tell of an "academia girl" trying to escape from a relationship with a married man: He's on the phone / And she wants to go home, / Shoes in hand, / Don't make a sound, / It's time to go. At the centre of the track is a spoken-word section by Daho.
"Avenue" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne, released in October 1992 as the first single from their second album, So Tough (1992). It was originally titled "Lovely Heart" or "Young Heart". The album version is a 7-minute version with lengthy instrumental sequences; it was edited down to around 4 minutes for radio play, though the commercial single contained the full-length version, with the radio edit only released on promotional material. The edit wasn't released commercially until 2005's Travel Edition 1990-2005.
"Like a Motorway" is a song by British pop group Saint Etienne. It appears on their third album, Tiger Bay (1994) and was released as a single by Heavenly Records in May 1994, reaching number 47 on the UK Singles Chart and number 13 on the UK Dance Singles Chart. The US release of Tiger Bay also features an "alternate version" with more complex percussion and electric guitar stings. It also appears on the original soundtrack for the 1994 film Speed, although the single is never heard in the actual film itself.
"Kiss and Make Up" is a song by Saint Etienne, released as a single in 1990. It is a cover version of "Let's Kiss and Make Up", a song by The Field Mice from their 1989 album, Snowball.
"Nothing Can Stop Us" is a song by English band Saint Etienne, released in May 1991 by Heavenly Records as the third single from their debut album, Foxbase Alpha (1991). It is the first release to feature Sarah Cracknell, who would continue to front the band from this release on. The single reached the number one spot on the American dance charts for one week. The song is based on a looped sample from Dusty Springfield's recording of "I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face".
"Join Our Club" is a song by English musical group Saint Etienne, released by Heavenly Records in May 1992 as a double-A side with "People Get Real".
"Hug My Soul" is a song by British band Saint Etienne. It was the third single from their third album, Tiger Bay (1994), and was released in September 1994 by Heavenly Records. It was written by vocalist Sarah Cracknell along with songwriting partners Guy Batson and Johnny Male.
Paul Kelly is an English film director, musician, photographer and designer.
Words and Music by Saint Etienne is the eighth studio album by English alternative dance band Saint Etienne, released on 18 May 2012 by Heavenly Recordings. The band announced the album in a Christmas message on their official website on 11 December 2011. The album features collaborations from longtime Saint Etienne associate Ian Catt, as well as Richard X and former Xenomania members Tim Powell and Nick Coler.
I've Been Trying to Tell You is the tenth studio album by English alternative dance band Saint Etienne, released on 10 September 2021 through Heavenly Recordings. The album is set between the "optimistic" years of 1997 and 2001, and contains samples of pop songs from this time along with related field recordings. It was accompanied by a short film directed by photographer Alasdair McLellan that premiered at a BFI Southbank event on 3 September.
"The Bad Photographer" is a song written and performed by British pop group Saint Etienne, and released in April 1998 by Creation Records as the second single from the group's fourth album, Good Humor (1998). The song is produced by Swedish record producer, composer and musician Tore Johansson, and peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart. It also reached number 24 in Scotland and number four on the UK Indie Singles Chart. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Björn Lindgren, who had previously directed the video for "Sylvie".
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