Saint Etienne’s 12th studio album, The Night, aurally attempts to recreate “the state between asleep and awake.” Described by the band as “a headphone album” that can be listened to as “one continuous single track”, it deliberately builds on the aesthetic of their previous long-player, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You. That record was a dream-like drift, that found the trio travelling through their past. Looking back, taking stock, to craft not their usual clever catchy pop, but instead a James Kirby / The Caretaker-like collage of sonic snapshots from their 35 year career. Their story so far. Where loops and snippets were woozily woven together, into a morning after mood that sometimes moved to gently muffled rhythms. Unpacking the party. Remembering the laughter. Wrestling with a few regrets. Indulging in nostalgia while simultaneously reinventing themselves as ambient explorers. The Night is clearly an extension of that.

Instruments are treated, stretched into delicate drones. Fragments of field recordings, conversations, float in and out. The sounds of surroundings mixing with memories. There are moments of quiet poetry, while songs surface as classic choruses. Multi-tracked mantras. Their verses forgotten. The melodies a synergy of melancholy and joie de vie. Sad and sweet. The music sometimes so ethereal as to almost not be there. Constructed from the symphonic swells of far away orchestras. Hushed choirs. Yesterdays proms. Snatches of phantom radio broadcasts. Deep dub techno bottom end, decorated with Higher Than The Sun harpsichord. The words are reflections on time’s ticking and fleeting youth.

Nightingale is a spooky, spectral folk standout. Sarah still summoning the spirit of The Shangri-Las, but in an expanse of echo. Slo-mo go-go dancing. You can still see the Biba mini-dress and kinky boots. Cila Black, Sandie Shaw, faded Top Of The Pops performances, lost in space. No Rush marries Spanish guitar picking with a stately bass drum. Gold is the album’s biggest production, bringing in flute and clarinet. However, everything builds to the beautiful Alone Together. Carried by brushed snares, boasting brass and a laidback Waterloo Sunset-like 6-string lick, as it fades closing the wistful reminiscing with a final reverb washed coda.

Saint Etienne’s The Night is out now on Heavenly Recordings. The album features a brilliant press release and sleeve notes by Benjamin Myers, who rightly links the set to listening landmarks by Virginia Astley, Talk Talk and The KLF.