Holy rollers

>> The heavenly pop of English internationalists Saint Etienne

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Ten years ago, British music was in the midst of "Madchester," a trend characterized by groove-ridden guitars, punctuating piano, lazy vocals and beats inspired by its sister subgenre, early acid house. Bands like the Stone Roses, the Charlatans and the Happy Mondays were the top of the pops in the U.K., but would soon crumble into obscurity, mediocrity and crack addiction, respectively.

Indie guitar music and underground dance would part ways again, with the former evolving into ultra-fuzzy, spaced-out "shoegazing," and the latter edging towards the multi-faceted techno beast it is today. Keeping the fusion alive and at the forefront, however, was a Southern trio called Saint Etienne, whose dizzy pop hits used samples of lush strings and horns, dance beats, Northern Soul backbeats and the Motown-meets-Petula-Clark vocals of Sarah Cracknell.

From their 1991 debut Foxbase Alpha to their latest release Sound of Water, Saint Etienne--Cracknell, Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley--have evolved and experimented but somehow never strayed far from this original formula. Having survived but never succumbed to grunge, Britpop, big beat and every trend in between, Saint Etienne's brand of electronic pop has become a strong force over the last few years. It seems the times have finally caught up with them.

"We're not as confusing as we used to be," says Cracknell with a chuckle, calling from a Vancouver hotel room at the start of their North American tour, which will see their first-ever appearance in Montreal.

"We're not jaded yet, but we will be by the time we get to you," says fellow quipster Pete Wiggs. But isn't that always the way?

Sainthood achieved
Located in the south-eastern part of France, near Lyon, the town of Saint-Etienne is famous for two things: being the home of "literary cafés" (yes, the joining of caffeine and literature was inspired by the town's annual October book festival) and having a good soccer team.

"In the '70s they were a very good team," explains Cracknell. "They came over and played in Britain a few times, and they were a good-looking football team, they had a cool kit. I think, to Bob and Pete as kids, it sounded very exotic."

"Bob and I used to pretend we were in a band called Saint Etienne and imagined it to be this amazing place. I don't know if it's that nice actually. We've never even been there, tragically."

Places to visit
This is hardly shocking, considering a good chunk of Saint Etienne's lyrics refer to either fictitious places or real places rendered unreal by the fact that the band has never been. See (and hear) the imagined U.S. of A on their America-themed 1998 album Good Humor (note the missing "U"). Or "Downey CA," an ode to the home of the Carpenters from Sound of Water.

"I was doing an interview with a guy who was born and brought up in Downey, California and he was really pissed off because we'd mentioned palm trees," said Cracknell. "And he was just going, 'There aren't any palm trees in Downey,' and I'm like, 'Well I've never been, what do you expect?' The name to us just conjures up certain things and a certain atmosphere, and it sounds nice and looks nice written down.

"We've got very vivid imaginations, I think we're sort of daydreamers, the three of us. The songs are so often about an imaginary place, imaginary people and imaginary situations that these people are in, d'you know what I mean? It's all kind of filmic and a bit make-believe."

Trans-Europe expression
Reality does tend to sink in during recording, however. Saint Etienne have chosen to make their last two albums in Europe, partly as an excuse to get away (Wiggs: "We love travelling and eating") and partly to escape the British stigma (Cracknell: "At one point it was always people saying we were 'quintessentially British' and we'd be going, 'We've travelled!'). If Good Humor's "crisp, clean pop" (with all its Cardigans comparisons) is the sound of Saint Etienne in Sweden, the minimal electronics of Sound of Water clearly reflects the band's Berlin sojourn last winter.

"It was kind of cold and snowy and there was lots of ice," said Wiggs. "We often write the lyrics quite late while recording songs and you're definitely influenced by things you see and are doing at the time. Berlin's a really exciting place. We went to a club where you had to go through a trap door in the floor to get into it and there's just a few people standing around, one light bulb on, listening to sparse, electronic stuff. It was great."

Adding to the uebervibe were co-producers To Rococo Rot, one of whom also moonlights in the acclaimed German act Tarwater. "To Rococo Rot's album Amateur View, we just loved it so much," says Cracknell. "It's very atmospheric and we were sort of fascinated by the fact that it was so minimal yet it felt so full and filled with emotion. It was something we wanted to try and do ourselves because whenever we'd ever tried to do anything minimal, it just sounded empty.

"We're quite into the spontaneity aspect of recording and not dwelling on things too much because sometimes you lose some of the charm that a bit of navïeté or slightly awkward-sounding vocals can have. If it's all perfect and polished it can lose some of its personality."

Personality crisis
Ironically, an excess of polish and a lack of personality are the two major criticisms that have haunted Saint Etienne throughout their career. Sound of Water's tepid, electronic tunes have less dancefloor appeal than their previous work but still retain the band's signature removed, vaguely Eurotrash texture. It's this signature that has fuelled cries of "ironic," "contrived" and "too clever" from the infamous British music press.

"If they met us they'd realize we weren't too clever," said Wiggs with a hearty laugh. "It's annoying, but sometimes you can see where it's coming from with some of the earlier stuff. We've never intended to be ironic, I hate the idea of people thinking they're superior to their listeners. That would be awful."

Another criticism, likely coming from the indie set with which Saint Etienne have always been grouped, is that their sound is soulless, over-produced and too polished.

"God, they should come in the studio with us and see how we work," replied Cracknell. "We spend our whole life going, 'Oh that's fine, that'll do.'

"It bugs me. A lot of that probably stems from British publications having an opinion on the fact that one member of the band [Stanley] is a music journalist and a record collector of some repute. They're putting two and two together and making five, they're saying because Bob's this and Bob's that then obviously the music is contrived and it's all too clever but I don't think it sounds that way--I hope it doesn't."

Petty politics aside, Saint Etienne have withstood the test of time and are now in the enviable position of not having to rely on the press to survive. Like Stereolab, their stable of fans and a travel agent are all they really need.

So-solo
Apart from lending her lyrics and vocals to Paul van Dyk's "Tell Me Why (the Riddle)," a pop-trance single which recently made the U.K. Top 10, Cracknell's work outside Saint Etienne includes '97's Lipslide, a solo album released earlier this year in Canada.

"I enjoy being in a band so much and doing that solo album was fun but a bit lonely at times," says Cracknell. "I find it hard when I haven't got someone else to bounce ideas around with, and travelling on your own, it's not quite the same. I wouldn't say that I'll never do any solo stuff again, I'm sure I will, but it depends on Saint Etienne's schedule really, because it's much more fun.

"We've started writing again already, we've got lots of ideas. We're going to record a lot of it at Pete's flat--he's got a kind of studio set up there now--so it's going to be very hands on for us. I'm looking forward to that."

"On the last two we've kind of collaborated and gone away early on in the album," added Wiggs. "So this time we're going to do as much as we can at mine and maybe mix somewhere else so we can have a bit of a holiday." Of course. :



At Club Soda on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 8pm, $17.50