Saint Etienne return with 'Take Me To The Pilot' - the second single from their thirteenth and final studio album 'International.'

 

Co-written and produced with Paul Hartnoll of Orbital, the track is a dark, propulsive escape fantasy.

It follows the first single, 'Glad.'

 

Speaking about the single, Bob Stanley said:

"Take Me To The Pilot is a dark mystery, a flight to somewhere new, somewhere to make your heart beat faster. It's about escape, disappearance, reinvention. Who's the pilot? You don't get to find out - that's the mystery, and the fun. Paul Hartnoll from Orbital and Tim Powell from Xenomania worked on it with us, and it might just have the best bassline we've ever released."

 

Pete Wiggs added:

"Back in 1990, after Bob had written a piece on Orbital, the Hartnoll brothers kindly let us see their stage setup, we hadn't done anything live yet and were slightly mystified. I think we remained so. Years later, now much wiser, I was reintroduced to Paul at a party in Hove, where I now live. We kept bumping into each other on the seafront, got chatting, and although I wasn't sure he'd say yes, I asked if he'd be up for writing a song with us. He did - and we love it!"

The track is accompanied by a new video by long-time collaborator and acclaimed fashion photographer Alasdair McLellan, and was filmed in Doncaster and the streets of Rome. Starring dancer Jet - first photographed by McLellan for Arena Homme+, the film weaves together suburban stillness and Roman grandeur.

 

Alasdair McLellan says:

"We were shooting this lad called Jet, a breakdancer, for Arena Homme+ when Bob got in touch about a video for Saint Etienne. I filmed Jet breakin' outside a bungalow in Tickhill, the village near Doncaster where I grew up. When Bob mentioned the album was called International, I decided to expand the idea and shoot a second part in Rome. It happened to coincide with the Vatican choosing the next Pope, so I thought why not have Jet dancing through the streets, with piazzas and Ponte Sant'Angelo's angel sculptures in the background? As we moved through the city, the video unfolded into a kind of breakin' pilgrimage to St Peter's in the Vatican."

The group aren't splitting up as such - they still remain the best of friends after 35 years recording together – but they don't feel like they want to go on forever and wanted to go out with a bang. International follows hot on the heels of "The Night"- released last November – a nocturnal, ambient record that garnered some of the best reviews of the group's career.

 

Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have known each other since childhood and started the group in 1990 with their classic cover of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'.

Sarah Cracknell joined for their third single 'Nothing Can Stop Us' and the Foxbase Alpha album in 1991. Since then they have branched out into films, books and curation, and became artists in residence at the Southbank Centre. The group simply feels it is now time to draw a line under new recordings.

 

International is very different in style and approach to "The Night", but both records are pure Saint Etienne. For International, the trio decided to ask friends, heroes and contemporaries to collaborate with them. That list included Confidence Man (who they discovered were St Et superfans after they played together at Kite Festival in 2022). 'Brand New Me' feels like a rebooted 1991 gem – think 'Nothing Can Stop Us' meets 'Groove Is In The Heart' – and features Sarah duetting with Confidence Man's Janet Planet.

 

You'll hear other collaborators on 'Sweet Melodies' (Erol Alkan), 'Two Lovers' (Vince Clarke), 'The Go Betweens' (a duet with Nick Heyward), 'Take Me To The Pilot' (Paul Hartnoll of Orbital) and 'Dancing Heart' and 'He's Gone', a brace co-written and produced with Tim Powell of Xenomania.

 

The closing track on International is a tear jerker, reflecting on where they've been and who they've become over three and a half decades - the group say goodbye to their fans, on record, for the very 'Last Time'.