Saint Etienne - InternationalSaint Etiennes new album, International, is their final album length statement, after the groups 35 year excursion through pop. A dreamlike drift with friends and collaborators, International features cameos from the higher echelons of pop 80s chart heroes, electro, acid house and all points in between, from Vince Clarke to Nick Heyward, Confidence Man to Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Doves and Xenomania, through to the lesser known, but

a collection of songs by Reiko and Tori Kudo

two farm girls from rural Minnesota who taught themselves to yodel amongst all their animals

but they're much more romanticized this time around

released when the boogaloo trend was still around

“All of a sudden

And that violin that appears on several songs and reminds you of the traditional imzad

Ewan Barton (bass)

An accomplished keyboardist / multi-instrumental composer and improviser

but not beholden to it

a cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je T’aime Moi Non Plus” and the mel- low favourite “Sho Nuff Boogie” recorded with The Moments

so for the last years he‰۪s been digging obsessively for the stuff

‰۝åÊ-åÊNMEåÊåÊ