Description
Label Review.
2017 album.
Our Overview.
The much adored UK alternative dance, pop trio Saint Etienne are back this year to remind us about what matters. That the magic of the charts, of Top Of The Pops, was – and still is – about reality, as well as fantasy. That pop can take everyday lives and make each moment sing. And that it is there for older people, younger people, all people, wherever their bedroom, their music, and their memories may be. Any time, anywhere, and for anyone. ‘Home Counties’ is their first album in five years capturing a day in the life of the “doughnut of shires that ring the capital” of London. By writing about the post-war towns that gave birth to The Beatles, Prodigy, Depeche Mode, and the Sutton United football club, the band examines “the love/hate relationship people have with ‘home.'” “Suburbia’s anonymity is exactly why it’s a source of inspiration,” said the band’s Bob Stanley. “They said it couldn’t happen here – and it didn’t."
The Home Counties are an embarrassing place to come from. The name itself suggests that somehow the rest of Britain isn’t ‘home’, not even London. Saint Etienne grew up in the Home Counties. Here are sixteen new songs they have written about a day in the life of this doughnut of shires that ring the capital, punctuated by bursts of BBC radio to remind you what time it is and all connected by train journeys - main lines, branch lines, commutes, escapes.
The love / hate relationship people have with ‘home’ is particularly acute in the Home Counties. Yet Saint Etienne understand that if you squint, it could be almost utopian. The album was produced by Shawn Lee of Young Gun Silver Fox, with support from Augustus (Kero Kero Bonito), Carwyn Ellis (Colorama, Edwyn Collins), Robin Bennett (The Dreaming Spires), Richard X (Girls On Top / Black Melody) and long-time collaborator Gerard Johnson (Denim, Yes). It was recorded in Central London. Sarah, Bob and Pete commuted to the studio every day for six weeks.
2LP includes digital download code.