Sound Of Water

Saint Etienne: Sarah Cracknell (vocals); Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs. Additional personnel includes: Nathan Bennett (vocals); Siel Cruise (guitar, accordion, vibraphone, bass, drums); Jez Williams (guitar); David Lawes (recorder); Stefan Schneider (piano, Wurlitzer piano); Edgar Jones (upright & electric bass); John Miller (drums); Stuart Reid (percussion); Jomox (programming); Mitch Stevens, Charlotte Hodson (background vocals); To Rococo Rot, Sean O'Hagan. Recorded at Amber Studios, Berlin, Germany. Includes liner notes by Simon Reynolds. Lower-key than 1998's GOOD HUMOUR, with none of the quirky oddities of 1999's THE MISADVENTURES OF SAINT ETIENNE, SOUND OF WATER is instead a somber meditation, the kind which sounds best on days when nothing about your life seems wrong, but nothing seems quite right either. That said, the album is perhaps the band's most consistently compelling record since SO TOUGH. Standouts include "Heart Failed," a pulsing, creepy number featuring sawing strings and bubbling synthesizers, "Sycamore," highlighting Sarah Cracknell's seductive, breathy vocals over piano, flute, and quietly twittering percussion, and the beautiful "Downey, CA," which continues the band's penchant for American cultural references. The record also features three instrumentals, "Late Morning," "Aspects of Lambert," and "Place at Dawn," all of which convey the vivid, widescreen cinematic imagery that has always been St. Etienne's most effective tool.