Tales From Turnpike House was a conceptual meditation on an imagined suburban location, but on 2017’s Home Counties Saint Etienne took a deeper dive into the core trio’s own upbringing in the commuter belt of London, a reflection on memory with a melancholic tinge driven by the divisive Brexit vote from the previous year. Working with expatriate American producer Shawn Lee to create an engaging sound very simpatico with his own kaleidoscopic pop approach – over twenty instruments are credited – yet more lovely songs emerged such as “Out Of My Mind, “Dive” and “Magpie Eyes.”

– Ned Raggett