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TALES FROM TURNPIKE HOUSE
Savoy Jazz
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Most savvy bands have some kind of hyphenation going on, but the trio Saint Etienne don’t bother. Over 15 years of refining their eclectic creative æsthetic — through more than 60 releases including dance-club singles and remixes — they’ve mastered the signatures of a host of genres to the point where nearly every one of these 13 songs has its own discrete and convincing framework, from tropicalismo to disco to jazzy pop to dark electro-rock to acoustic folk balladry to, well, whatever they please. If there’s a thread running through this supremely entertaining album — besides Sarah Cracknell’s breathy, swinging-Dusty-in-London voice — it’s the same psychedelic undercurrent that unites Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, and Portishead. The result is that the pulsing, romantic "I’m Falling," the Brazilian-fueled tribute to urban living "Side Streets," the dance-floor throbber "A Good Thing," and the rest blend into an elegant one-band mash-up that conjures its own shimmering, sophisticated, and timeless musical universe — an elegant and rare accomplishment.
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