Saint Etienne – The Night Review

Saint Etienne gives us a reason to push through those moments of fatigue. Persevere and become a nighthawk. It seems as though most great works and efforts happen at the extremes of the day Either so early in the morning few are awake, or so late at night where many are asleep. There is a return to common practice from the trio on The Night, whose late-night attempts at feeling for subtle differences in the time of day range from the exceptional to the utmost. An antithesis to everyday momentum can be heard here, this sense of taking a break and stretching out rather than committing to the stress and race of the day. The Night may apply these softer tones, moving away from the samples of previous album I’ve Been Trying to Tell You, but the ever-important core is a moodier direction.  

Studio chatter even plays into this calmer tone. Settle In is a chance to get comfortable, like finding a seat at a party in your uncomfortably crowded living room. Ambience is key for The Night. Lose that and the essence of what Saint Etienne is trying to do disperses. Seeking out fortunes may sound like a wispy chance at personal reflection but it has the hang-ups of Limmy’s Show classic, Falconhoof, the fog and fiendish music playing in the background as he welcomes the pay-as-you-go traveller. A roundabout way of idolizing the tones of Jean-Michel Jarre from an early age, without ever getting around to Oxygéne. The Night is great. It needles out those repressed influences and nostalgic pockets, making good on them with an earnestness few have when detailing memories or understanding heartfelt connections to places or people. All of it works as expected. No real surprises are within but there is a sensitivity which grants Saint Etienne the right tone for contemplation.  

Give The Night a bit of time to grow into its calmer grooves and what you have is an exceptional ambient album. Everything clicks into place on Northern Counties East. Spoken word beauties are the new aim of Saint Etienne, and it suits them. Calming this, peaceful that, there is still a vibrant and brutal punch to their work but they are holding back on a few of the easier jabs which less experienced, dreamy-like ventures would throw. Those rising tones and acceptances of loss on Preflyte are powerful moments that Saint Etienne leans into well. Follow-up Wonderlight, understands what we do in moments of avoidance, searching for those songs which provide a tactical switch in mood. Feel My Heart follows this on neatly, and the best parts of The Night are found towards its conclusion.  

Saint Etienne has a fine piece of downtempo, ambient music on their hands. The Night circles back to those moments of comfort, the general shuffle and bluster of trying to get comfortable when listening to an album or reading a book. It never happens unless you have one of those Eames lounge chairs. But for those that don’t, for those who sit in their thermal socks because the boiler sounds like it’s going to rip itself out of the wall if it stays on for more than a half hour, there is much comfort to be found in the character of The Night. Wonderfully produced, settling into those left-field ambient genre choices well and never truly straying from the already-walked path is more than enough. A tender and genuine release from Saint Etienne.