Saint Etienne

The Night – PIAS

The Night, the 12^th album by Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs – aka Saint Etienne – is a jaunt into the ambient, venturing into a serene nocturnal soundscape that focusing on vibe more than their usual mixed beats and rhythms. Mostly, the songs are tranquil and spacey – a marshmallow cloud of tones that shift back and forth between the lucid and dreamstate, as one does when in-between awake and asleep. The minimalism is the key here, with Cracknell often whispering words on some tracks, while gently allowing her voice to glide to ethereal heights on others.

Track 2, “Half Light,” swirls in shadowy haze – almost trippy – with the feeling of losing consciousness at the crux of the tune. Imagine drifting on and off to sleep – this track captures that feeling. “Hear My Heart,” track 13, is an amazing 6-minute escape that is almost spa-like in tone. Wave sounds and simple guitar strums combine into a cracking crescendo of a contemplative mood. The song transitions at the end to an orchestral median of wooziness. Track 14, “Alone Together,” seems like the wake-up song (and it is the last track on the album.) A slinking guitar and soft synths give way to the sunny emotion and trumpet – a chill love song. Again, another transition at the end as Cracknell goes spoken word with some spa bowl sounds. Track 4, “Nightingale,” is their version of a lullaby.

This is not your typical SE album like Foxbase Alpha, So Tough, or Good Humor – that is the intention and that is cool. Wiggs and Stanley have created an atmosphere that washes the listener in moments of solitude and meditative healing. This is totally a headphones at night kind of album.

Just wonderful! I like these: 2, 13, 14, 4, 11, 7, 9, and 1.

– (h)earwitness