Bleep

Saint Etienne’s seventh studio album, originally released in 2005, gets reissued by Heavenly. Never ones to shy away from concept, here the group conceived a group of songs all set in different rooms of the same London high-rise. Coming after a run of sonically adventurous records, Tales From Turnpike House turns up the pop factor. ‘Milk Bottle Symphony’ and ‘A Good Thing’ are sparkling techno-pop of the sort that only Saint Etienne could pull off. The album includes two co-writes from Xenomania at a time when the songwriters were conquering the charts from week to week, and David Essex also shows up towards the LP’s end. Amid the slew of bangers, Saint Etienne also take time to remind us that they do daydream music like no-one on songs like ‘Side Streets’ and ‘Goodnight’.