It’s never easy saying goodbye. In a year already heavy with cultural farewells, Saint Etienne’s announcement that their 13th studio album would be their last carried a particular sting. For three decades Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell have been purveyors of bittersweet pop, folding club textures and wistful references into something recognisably their own. ‘International’ is their parting shot — a colourful, guest-heavy affair that’s less a solemn wake and more a leaving do in a pub with a cake.
Opener Glad sets the tone. Co-written and produced by Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers, with guitar from Jez Williams of Doves, it’s a buoyant pulse of a track about finding joy in the everyday. It captures the band’s knack for melancholy uplift, even if it doesn’t quite hit the peaks found throughout their canon.
Elsewhere, Xenomania’s Tim Powell brings bright hooks to Dancing Heart, while Nick Heyward — once of Haircut One Hundred — guests on The Go-Betweens, a knowingly retro nod to Saint Etienne’s love of pop history.
There are moments where the formula lands perfectly, such as Vince Clarke’s Two Lovers, an irresistible slice of camp electropop, and others where things drift a little. Sweet Melodies, produced with Erol Alkan, provides a gauzy breather, though it edges close to mood-piece filler. Still, the sense of camaraderie is undeniable. From collaborations with Confidence Man’s Janet Planet to Paul Hartnoll of Orbital, the record doubles as a roll call of friends and influences.
The finale, The Last Time, delivers the requisite weight of feeling. Cracknell reportedly shed a tear recording it, and you can hear why: it’s understated, direct and human, a fitting close to a recording career that has always been about emotional nuance within the pop frame.
‘International’ doesn’t quite ascend to classic status, but it functions well as a generous goodbye — warm, referential, occasionally overstuffed, yet always recognisably Saint Etienne in its gentle pop tonality. The leaving do has been good but it’s winding down now and, even though it’s not yet 9.30pm, it’s probably time to go home. Have we had enough? Tough to say...it’s never easy saying goodbye.
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