Saint Etienne
Tales From Turnpike House
(Sanctuary)
During the recording of this, Saint Etienne's seventh studio album, Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs also recorded a children's album called Up the Wooden Hills in a response to the fact that the majority of music aimed at young listeners is simply terrible.
The sentiment seems to have percolated through to this, their 'grown-up' album.
With multi-coloured melodies and Cracknell's soothing caramel tones, there's also a tendency to over-sweeten things - such as the sickly Milk Bottle Symphony, which references banal details such as making toast, cups of tea and being late for work. It's wracked with the tedious sentimentalities that Saint Etienne - and British culture, in general - can sometimes cling to, and for anyone born outside Britain it can be off-putting.