I've Been Trying To Tell You

by Saint Etienne

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saishigo
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saishigo Attended the preview screening of the Alasdair McLellan film at BFI Southbank in London with Alasdair, Bob and Sarah in attendance. Listening to the album this way (listening by watching) it seemed to me to be the best Saint Etienne record since SOUND OF WATER. Few standout tracks, which will disappoint some, but definitely pays dividends when listened to as a single continuous ebb/flow of music. Let’s see if it works as well without the visuals. Favorite track: Fonteyn.
jab2099
jab2099 thumbnail
jab2099 the soundtrack to your happiness Favorite track: Penlop.
Kirk Colton
Kirk Colton thumbnail
Kirk Colton Being a longtime fan since Foxbase Alhpa...looking very forward to a heavy sample based Saint Etienne release.
Shermarkeh Hussein
Shermarkeh Hussein thumbnail
Shermarkeh Hussein Because I love everything that they do and have done so since I was young.
trikydiky
trikydiky thumbnail
trikydiky Beautiful, blissed out dubby tune.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Download the album on week of release for an exclusive bonus track, 'Uncle Vibes'.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £5.99 GBP

     

  • 12" Vinyl LP + Exclusive Bonus Flexi Disc *UK EXCLUSIVE / ONE PER CUSTOMER*
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    140g black vinyl LP. Comes with clear blue flexi disc of bonus track 'Uncle Vibes', exclusive to the Heavenly Bandcamp and limited to 300 copies.

    PLEASE NOTE: This item can only be ordered within the UK, and is strictly one per customer. Any orders from outside the UK or for multiple copies will be cancelled.

    Includes unlimited streaming of I've Been Trying To Tell You via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Music Again 05:45
2.
Pond House 04:02
3.
Fonteyn 04:50
4.
Little K 05:45
5.
Blue Kite 04:51
6.
7.
Penlop 05:30
8.
Broad River 05:35
9.

about

Thirty years on from their groundbreaking debut Foxbase Alpha, the much-loved London trio Saint Etienne announce their 10th studio album I’ve Been Trying To Tell You slated for release on September 10th via Heavenly Recordings.

The album was made largely from samples and sounds drawn from the years 1997-2001, a period that was topped and tailed by Labour's election victory and the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. Was the optimism of that era a lost golden age, or was it a period of naïvety, delusion and folly? The collective folk memory of any period differs from the lived reality. I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is an album about memory, how it works, how it tricks you and creates a dream-like state. It also taps into the way we think of our youth, a sense of place, and where we come from.

For the first time, Saint Etienne didn't record together in a studio. The album was completed remotely, in Hove (Pete Wiggs), Oxford (Sarah Cracknell) and Bradford (Bob Stanley), in collaboration with film and TV composer Gus Bousfield, who contributes to a number of tracks).

“To me it’s about optimism, and the late nineties” Bob explains “and how memory is an unreliable narrator. Pete and Gus have done a properly amazing production job. I think it sounds gorgeous.”

Sarah: “It's the first sample driven album we’ve made since So Tough and it’s been a really refreshing experience, such fun! It’s both dreamy and atmospheric, late summer sounds.”

Pete: “We've really pulled apart and dived deep into the samples; the concept and each of our interpretations of it have made this a very special sounding album, we hope you think so too."

The album is accompanied by a specially-made film directed by the acclaimed photographer and film-maker Alasdair McLellan who also did all the stills photography for the record. There's a whole lifetime's worth of locations in there - Avebury, Portmeirion, Doncaster, Grangemouth as well as London. Evoking the era through the fog of memory, the resulting film is beautiful, hypnotic and all-enveloping.

Alasdair says “My starting point was an interpretation of my memories from the time I first started to listen to Saint Etienne’s music. Of course, it is an interpretation of what I was doing then while looking back at it now. At that time, I was a bored teenager in a village near Doncaster, South Yorkshire; it was a place where very little happened. I now look back at that time as something quite idyllic – even the boredom seems idyllic – and a big part of its soundtrack was Saint Etienne.”

credits

released September 10, 2021

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