A Short History of Saint Etienne

In the late eighties Bob Stanley wrote for the NME. The popular music weekly was attempting to revive indie guitar music with the much hyped compilation tape C86. This tape featured a young Primal Scream before they gave up indie music three years later and turned to DJ Andrew Weatherall to create their dance crossover hit "Loaded" in 1989. It didn't feature a young Stone Roses before they loved it up in warehouse parties and came to realize that beats, northern soul and indie guitars could create something special. Stanley had witnessed Alan McGee of Creation Records and Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie bang on about the ecstasy of Chicago house and acid-house and gave in to the groove and purchased a sampler with Pete Wiggs, his friend since childhood when they made each other party tapes. With the sampler they decided to make a dance record.

The two friends both loved sixties pop music fronted by a female soul singer who retained her own personality. Big favorites were Francoise Hardy, Sandie Shaw and of course, Dusty Springfield. They were also admirers of Hardy's husband Jacques Dutronic. He arranged for his wife to sing a style of future pop. In fact Saint Etienne were advocates of French pop before it became cool about ten years later. They even stole a march on another band that loved French music, Stereolab. Saint Etienne's album "Foxbase Alpha" was released on Creation Records in 1991, a full year before Stereolab's debut. Although, to be fair, Stereolab thrived on the legacy of France's electronic music within a trad rock set-up with Laetitia Sadier's vocals floating over the top; Saint Etienne play with disco beats, hip-hop and dub and are equally happy using sampled instruments as real ones such as harpsichords and flutes and those female soul voices. On their cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" it is Moira Lambert who sings deadpan just like Ronnie Ronette, but the show is well and truly stolen by the innocent sex appeal of Sarah Cracknell with her hint of Sandie and Dusty but retaining her own personality.

Her voice suits the band perfectly. They have always seemed keen to avoid rock and soul posturing, to avoid overblown sentiment and production sheen. Their music, although pastiche, is underpinned by a modern cut'n'paste, mix and match approach to samples and beats. Many of their songs celebrate bohemian London with a sixties feel and retro musical backing that pre-dates Britpop.

Music journalists have compared them to the Pet Shop Boys and tend to dwell on their sense of irony. This may be due to both bands making electronic music and both having ex-music journalists in their line up. This may be due to Saint Etienne being difficult to pin down to any particular genre or style. "So Tough" seems influenced by Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds" and classic girl-groups while having elements of latin jazz, dub and reggae. Not genuine roots reggae but the punk take on reggae bass learned from the likes of the Slits and PiL. They were less 'pop' by 1994's "Tiger Bay" as they embraced a more ambient sound. This was before bands such as Air started producing impossible to dance to dance albums. The band took a four year break when Wiggs and Stanley co-ran Emidisc, a cutting-edge record label under the EMI umbrella. Sarah Craknell released a solo album. After this they recorded "Good Humor" which was more classic indie pop rock than dance and it was released on Sub Pop! the home of grunge. Their recent offerings have had something of the concept album about them. All very confusing, yet utterly pop.