Album Review: Saint Etienne Observe The “Home Counties” That Raised Them
Saint Etienne grew up in the Home Counties of England, where BBC radio woke them up in the morning to a doughnut of shires, train journeys that felt like rebellious escapes, bored teenagers in semis inventing ghost stories, and squatters caused trouble at all-you-can-eat buffets. Whether that is a dream or a nightmare to you does not matter; it is life. For Saint Etienne that life birthed their vibrant sound and years of music tenacity, of which they homage in their newest record Home Counties.
What has to be my favorite aspect of Home Counties is Saint Etienne’s ability to make life seem so lavish and languid, all at once. “Something New” is about a teenage girl creeping through the front door after staying out all night. “Whyteleafe” imagines what might have happened if David Bowie had remained David Jones of Bromley, stuck with a desk job.“Train Drivers In Eyeliner” wonders what the railway network might be like it tracked according to conductors’ music tastes. These are only 3 of the 19 tracks/ storylines that convert Home Counties into an imaginative world. It transports working class lives into fantastical ones with instrumentals that bubble, pop, and soar into listeners’ childlike visions. Moreover, each song appeals to that gnawing, human sentiment swearing there is more to life than what is before us. “Heather”, “Dive”, and “Sweet Arcadia” are all dedicated to a feeling that you are bigger than what your situations and even spirit have allowed, and marvel on how our “home counties” can duel between being our prisons and utopias. This notion alone makes Home Counties an infectiously rhythmic jolt as its lyrics paint landscapes that appear like nothing but carry everything in meaning. Moreover, Sarah Cracknell’s voice induces potent, picturesque images in your mind.
Cracknell’s voice might as well be an apparition in tracks, “What Kind Of World”, “Underneath The Apple Tree”, and “After Hebden”, where her vocals are phantasmic. After years as a musician, she knows how to meticulously haze and rise her vocals to drive the magical and thoughtful aspects of their indie-pop music. For Saint Etienne, Home Counties is a mystifying attempt to appreciate the good and denounce the bad of the hometowns that make us who we are. Like family, the places that raise us can influence the best and worst of us, but never fail to keep our love. For For More On Saint Etienne And To Buy Home Counties On June 2 Click Here.
