 Saint Etienne For those keeping count, this is Saint Etienne's 5,000th CD single, and while they never chart, at least they're always consistently good. "How We Used to Live," actually, is quite unlike anything they've done before, a multi-part suite (nearly nine minutes long) that sounds sort of like what prog-rock would be if you explained it to a Japanese pop producer who'd never heard it before and told her to make some. It's more complex than the Good Humor-era Etienne, but reveals its brilliance with repeat plays. Not an obvious choice for a single, that's certain, but it's fast becoming a favorite, especially owing to some particularly amazing singing from Sarah on the last part of the song, when it gets all jazzy. The CD also includes the "How We used to Live" video, which is as cosmopolitan, oblique, arty, and plastically beautiful as you'd imagine. An excellent scene with Sarah singing in a nightclub, plus some great shots of various inanimate objects. Well worth watching. A couple floaty, atmospheric b-sides ("Roseneck," "Red Setter") plus two remixes of the title track (by Dot Allison and Aim). The remixes are, respectively, darker and slinkier, and as with most Etienne EPs, they round out the program nicely without making you feel you're hearing the same song over and over. God bless Sarah Cracknell and Co. for living in their own champagne-buzzed world, and for simultaneously catering to clubbers, pop fans, and the Japanese in general.
Review by Amos Onus |