Saint Etienne – ‘International’ album review: a middle-aged night out in a nutshell

Posted On September 3, 2025September 3, 2025

After three decades in the music business, Saint Etienne clearly want to go out with a bang in terms of their final album. Instead, it’s more of a fizzle, or a pop, with little more to say for itself afterwards. Maybe it’s just as well they’ve decided to call it a day in the recording studio, because the thrashing of the industry is not likely to be as kind. 

To give credit where credit is due, Saint Etienne should be commended for just how long they’ve lasted. Formed in 1990, the London electronic trio – consisting of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley, and Pete Wiggs – have spent the better part of the last 30 years interspersing their music with a range of film, art, and other cultural outputs. But by the time we have reached the present day, they felt it was time to bow out with their latest album International, set to be released via Heavenly Records, as their 13th and final effort.

With the help of producer Tim Powell, the album is undeniably drenched in fun-loving 1990s nostalgia – but as much as everyone loves reliving the ‘good old days’, the point is that it remains stuck there, and doesn’t offer anything particularly fresh for the 2025 audience to grab on to. For something that is so clearly intended to be bursting with life, it just comes across a little corny and tired.

The result is that after the opening track, ‘Glad’, which does truly palpitate with a notion of excitement, the rest of the record descends into a sluggish, overly sugary collection of 12 tracks. Indeed, it’s actually very much reminiscent of an evening spent watching Eurovision. A cheesy, garish, and frazzling assault on the senses which keeps you glued to its chaos, whether you like it or not. Put it this way, you’re grateful for the silence once it’s done. 

Of course, this is not an attempt to dismiss or squander everything that Saint Etienne have achieved over the years to this point, but it’s evident that although their full-throttle electronic sound may have won over the club fanatics three decades ago, it doesn’t stand up very well to a modern audience. This is only further hammered home by the fact that the tracks in which there are collaborations – such as ‘Glad’, co-written by The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowland, and ‘Brand New Me’, featuring Confidence Man – stand as the strongest efforts, almost as if those guest slots are taking the helm. 

Without trying to sound entirely disparaging, give International as an album recommendation to your mum the next time she has her friends round for a girls’ night. They may be slightly bemused at first, but once the wine and the prosecco are flowing, they’re sure to have a great time. For the rest of us, as the insatiable beats and toe-curling lyrics pulse through the wall, all you can do is let out a sigh of resignation. It’s harmless fun, sure, but hardly what you would call high art. 

Defining track: ‘The Last Time’ – the lyrics about catching up with old friends over Facebook “30 odd years later” was really what put the nail in the coffin for me on this album, I’m sorry to say.

For fans of: Superfluous dance music with a hint of Europop – it’s certainly nothing more high-brow than that. 

A concluding comment from a Facebook mum on a night out: “Let’s get the tunes on!!!”

Release date: September 5th, 2025 | Producer: Tim Powell | Label: Heavenly Records

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