Saint Etienne return with ‘Take Me To The Pilot’ – the second single from their thirteenth and final studio album International, released 5th August via Heavenly Recordings.
Co-written and produced with Paul Hartnoll of Orbital, the track is a dark, propulsive escape fantasy. It follows the first single, ‘Glad’, which was playlisted on BBC 6 Music and received support from Nick Grimshaw, Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens, Craig Charles and Steve Lamacq.
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.
Watch the video for ‘Take Me To The Pilot’ – BELOW:
After 35 years recording together, Saint Etienne aren’t splitting up as such, they remain the best of friends but they’ve decided not to continue indefinitely, wanting instead to go out with a bang. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have known each other since childhood and formed Saint Etienne in 1990 with their iconic cover of Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart.’ Sarah Cracknell joined for their third single, ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’, and their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991. Since then, the trio have expanded into films, books, and curation, including a residency at the Southbank Centre. Now, they feel it’s time to draw a line under new recordings.
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’ – a collaboration with Confidence Man featuring both Janet Planet and Sarah Cracknell on vocals feels like a rebooted 1991 gem – think ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ meets ‘Groove Is In The Heart’.
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’.
‘Take Me To The Pilot’ by Saint Etienne is out 5th August, taken from their album International, released 5th September on Heavenly Recordings. Saint Etienne are planning live dates for 2026. Watch this space.
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