Rating: NNNN
On their eighth album, quintessentially English pop group Saint Etienne celebrate obsessive teenage pop music fandom and, more broadly, as singer Sarah Cracknell puts it on spoken word opener Over The Border, “the strange and important sound of the synthesizer.”
That song nicely sums up the record’s overarching theme: music’s ability to transport listeners back through their memories. Although Words And Music is largely about nostalgia, it smartly remains an avowedly modern-sounding album thanks in part to producers like Xenomania’s Nick Coler, Tim Powell (Kylie Minogue) and Richard X (Annie, M.I.A.) who keep band the within the dance floor’s periphery.
It has the vitality of today’s top 40 dance-pop but is full of the kind of wisdom, wit and warmth that can only come with age. So many bands are content to ape the style of their predecessors, but Saint Etienne have a voice and sophisticated style all their own. What better way to pay tribute to the musical heroes of one’s youth than to make music that stands alongside it?
Top track: Popular
