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Jun 5, 2017Home Counties is Saint Etienne at their very best, blending breezy observations and harmonies with a deep seated emotion, centred around the need for a place to call home. In these uncertain times, a blast of hot sunshine and a listen to this record certainly make the world a better place to be.
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UncutMay 30, 2017A clutch of glistening electronic pop gems. [Jul 2017, p.37]
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Q MagazineJun 6, 2017It's a multilayered, detailed affair, which proves that 27 years after their debut, their edge is still keen. [Aug 2017, p.108]
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Jun 6, 2017It may not be flashy like their early work, experimental like some of their mid-period albums, or punchy like Words and Music, but the album takes in elements of everything they've done along the way and repurposes it in a lovely, extremely satisfying fashion.
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Jun 5, 2017They sound as assured as ever on Home Counties.
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Jun 5, 2017If the concept might seem a bit Brexit, the execution is flawless and winningly witty.
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Jun 1, 2017A musically diverse affair yet still coherently Saint Etienne.
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May 31, 2017Thematically the album's tight and the catchy hooks and danceable rhythms drip with just the right amount of psychedelic dance-pop sweetness. With infectious grooves, great musical phrases and smooth almost sultry vocals, it all makes for another Saint Etienne record that's extremely hard to dislike.
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MojoMay 30, 2017Naturally, every song is a fully formed gem underscoring Saint Etienne's unique way with setting reflective pop upon a dance floor chassis. [Jul 2017, p.86]
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May 30, 2017It’s not that it’s a bad record--it is an enjoyable listen and is successful in achieving what it set out to do, namely to evoke the true sound and spirit of the London orbital world that claims bored teenagers, squaddies and suburban rebels as its own.
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May 30, 2017The band rarely deviate from their thematic nexus, which helps to tie the album together as it sprawls over nineteen tracks. As they move closer to the middle ground, Saint Etienne are far from re-inventing the wheel, but in writing delectable pop hooks about a place as decidely uncool as the home counties, that was never really the point.
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Jun 12, 2017Saint Etienne never identified as Britpop, and fair enough. But with Home Counties, they give us a glimpse of what cutting-edge ’90s pop could have become if it had evolved into adult music with a more earthbound point of view.
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Jun 5, 2017Home Counties has much to offer in the way their greatest records always have-infectious hits, interesting soundscapes, nods to musical history, all under the sprawling umbrella of pop.
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Jun 30, 2017The band’s approach to music-making has always been as eclectic as their references, but generally they’ve stuck to one approach per album. Unfortunately this is where Home Counties comes a bit unstuck. There’s quite a lot going on.
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Jun 1, 2017In the past their sampling has been atmospheric, but the snatches of Ken Bruce and Sports Report here are self-parodic.
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Jul 10, 2017Saint Etienne will always be interesting, and may still have a classic album in them, but maybe they need to drop the intellectual tendencies and simply embrace the music of the idols whom they so clearly adore.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 16
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Mixed: 0 out of 16
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Negative: 3 out of 16
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Feb 12, 2018
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Jun 20, 2017
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Jun 9, 2017