Click here to return to index

Saint Etienne has been shuffling discotheque beats and moody, ethereal synth-pop together since 1992's "Foxbase Alpha," long before drowning pop tunes in keyboards became a bona fide musical sensation. But even at its most manipulated or mixed, the group's brand of electro has always been elevated by Sarah Cracknell's ice-queen vocals and an overall forward-thinking musical aesthetic.

When considered on those counts, Saint Etienne's latest album, "Finisterre," missteps more than it hits. Lead single "Action" is a declaration of musical detachment, utilizing faceless wails and a keyboard-happy background that sounds alternately breathless and muffled. The cheesy "New Thing" is not at all, sporting a keyboard wave modeled after the mainstream side of the 1980s. "Soft Like Me," featuring awkward raps and fluffy choruses, is so insincere it could be an outtake from the Spice Girls' teeth-rotting pop sugar.

The album's enjoyable moments sound less cloying and forced. "Language Lab" is a floaty instrumental as pastoral as a fresh summer's day. "The Way We Live Now" is sonically apt, combining pastiches of static, ominous sustained notes, and computer circuit-like burbling. "Summerisle" explodes in layers of repeating melodic strums, piano, and an echoing cry of "rainbow," while "Shower Science" features Cracknell vocals that haunt like a ghost, letting down their guard to ask plaintively, "Call my name."

Tunes like these are both affecting and refreshing, which only magnifies the fact that in the end, "Finisterre" would have been much more inspiring pared down to an EP.

---

Click here to return to index