SAINT ETIENNE SHARE NEW VIDEO & SINGLE “POND HOUSE”
NEW ALBUM I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU DUE SEPTEMBER 10 ON HEAVENLY RECORDINGS
London trio Saint Etienne are pleased to announce their 10th studio release,Β Iβve Been Trying To Tell You, an album about optimism, youth and the late nineties. It is accompanied by a sumptuous film by the same name directed by acclaimed photographer Alasdair McLellan. The film premieres September 3rd alongsideΒ The Films Of Saint EtienneΒ Β – a special weekend of screenings andΒ Q & As at BFI Southbank.
Thirty years on from their groundbreaking debut Foxbase Alpha, the much-loved London trio Saint Etienne announce their 10th studio album, Iβve Been Trying To Tell You, slated for release on September 10th via Heavenly Recordings. The band have also shared the first track “Pond House”, an evocative collision of undulating beats and samples alongside its visuals from the film.
The album was made largely from samples and sounds drawn from the years 1997-2001, a period that was topped and tailed by Labour’s election victory and the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. Was the optimism of that era a lost golden age, or was it a period of naΓ―vety, delusion and folly? The collective folk memory of any period differs from the lived reality.Β Iβve Been Trying To Tell YouΒ is an album about memory, how it works, how it tricks you and creates a dream-like state. It also taps into the way we think of our youth, a sense of place, and where we come from.
For the first time, Saint Etienne didn’t record together in a studio. The album was completed remotely, in HoveΒ (Pete Wiggs), OxfordΒ (Sarah Cracknell)Β and BradfordΒ (Bob Stanley), in collaboration with film and TV composerΒ Gus Bousfield, who contributed to two songs on the album.
βTo me itβs about optimism, and the late ninetiesβΒ BobΒ explains βand how memory is an unreliable narrator. Pete and Gus have done a properly amazing production job. I think it sounds gorgeous.βΒ
Sarah:Β βIt’s the first sample driven album weβve made since So Tough and itβs been a really refreshing experience, such fun! Itβs both dreamy and atmospheric, late summer sounds.β
Pete:Β βWe’ve really pulled apart and dived deep into the samples;Β Β the concept and each of our interpretations of it have made this a very special sounding album, we hope you think so too.”
The album is accompanied by a specially-made film directed by the acclaimed photographer and film-makerΒ Alasdair McLellanΒ who also did all the stills photography for the record. There’s a whole lifetime’s worth of locations in there – Avebury, Portmeirion, Doncaster, Grangemouth as well as London.Β Evoking the era through the fog of memory, the resulting film isΒ beautiful, hypnotic and all-enveloping.
Alasdair saysΒ βMy starting point was an interpretation of my memories from the time I first started to listen to Saint Etienneβs music. Of course, it is an interpretation of what I was doing then while looking back at it now. At that time, I was a bored teenager in a village near Doncaster, South Yorkshire; it was a place where very little happened. I now look back at that time as something quite idyllic β even the boredom seems idyllic β and a big part of its soundtrack was Saint Etienne.β
The filmΒ Iβve Been Trying To Tell YouΒ will premiere at NFT1 on the Southbank on September 3rd.Β TicketsΒ go on sale to BFI members on Wednesday August 4th and to the general public on Thursday August 5th. Watch the trailerΒ HERE.
The premiere ofΒ Iβve Been Trying To Tell YouΒ will be accompanied by a whole weekend ofΒ The Films Of Saint EtienneΒ atΒ BFI Southbank between the 3rd and 5th of September; seven films and a selection of shorts with most screenings accompanied by Q&As with Saint Etienne and their collaborators.
The Films Of Saint Etienne (presented by Sonic Cinema at BFI Southbank)
9/3/2021-Β Iβve Been Trying to Tell You (Premiere)Β + Q & A with Alasdair McLellan & Bob Stanley, NFT1
9/3/2021-Β This Is TomorrowΒ + intro by Bob Stanley & Paul Kelly, NFT2
9/4/2021-Β AsunderΒ + intro by Esther Johnson & Bob Stanley, NFT2
9/4/2021-Β FinisterreΒ + Q & A with Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs, NFT 1
9/4/2021-Β How We Used to LiveΒ + Q & A with Pete Wiggs & Travis Elborough, NFT1
9/5/2021-Β Lawrence of BelgraviaΒ + Q & a with Paul Kelly & Lawrence, NFT1
9/5/2021 –Β What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?Β + Q & A with Pete Wiggs & Paul Kelly, NFT1
9/5/2021-Β Saint Etienne: Shorts ProgrammeΒ + intro by Paul Kelly & Pete Wiggs, NFT2
Tickets available atΒ BFI.org.uk
Tour Dates
11/18/2021 – Glasgow, St Lukes
11/19/2021 – Sunderland, to be announced
11/20/2021- London, Alexandra Palace Theatre
11/23/2021 – Bristol, Trinity
11/24/2021 – Birmingham, Institute
11/25/2021 – Saltaire, Victoria Hall
11/26/2021 – Liverpool, Grand Central Hall
11/27/2021- Hove, Old Market Tix
Tickets available at http://gigst.rs/SaintEtiennePre
ArtistΒ Links
Background Photo Credit: Elaine Constantine
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