In an era of shrinking record companies and seemingly exhausted musical ideas, few pop music artists are able to build on their previous work; even fewer manage to compose compelling music and maintain an audience. Smashing Pumpkins and the Verve offer a solution: Give up the ghost while you still have some integrity intact. Oasis, are you listening?
With its latest, one of England's savviest pop consortiums goes further than anyone could have imagined. Saint Etienne has always bridged contrasting styles, meshing the sophistication of Brian Wilson and Bacharach with the populist pop of Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and the Pet Shop Boys. Sound Of Water is a coming-of-age record arriving smack dab at the turn of the century.
Brilliantly assimilating pop, Krautrock, synth pop, electronica, and exotica, Sound Of Water rides a narrow road between pure pop and avant-garde experimentation. The results are both surreal and serene: Music as ultimate summer hypnotic, as headphone sex, and soothing aural balm. "Late Morning" spins wordless vocals over an airy cloud of strings. "Just A Little Overcome" recalls Pet Sounds for sure, but without being slavish. As pop music currency, Wilson's sounds form a template St Etienne explores, as many have. But Sarah Cracknell's soft voice perfectly balances the simmering bits of synth oboe, acoustic guitar, and seesawing keyboard. Songs like "Boy Is Crying" and "Downey, CA" mix Dusty Springfield, Motown, and modern machine soul in layers of electric comfort sounds. "Aspects Of Lambert" extends a new hybrid--future pop with purpose--rife with Sean O'Hagen's keyboard doodles and again recalling the purely instrumental moments of Pet Sounds, but realized with computer sampler and sequencer. St Etienne surprise with this low-key wonder work, a wall of sunny sound encased in familiar jewels and misty pop memories.
All recordings courtesy of Sub Pop Records. All songs written by Cracknell, Stanley, Wiggs; courtesy of Momentum/Warner-Chappell.
