Saint Etienne Recording Their Final Album?

Completely forgot to post this new Saint Etienne album info when it surfaced awhile back, so no time like the present. As we know, it's now been five years since the UK release of the band's last LP Tales From Turnpike Place (and four-and-a-half since it came out domestically).

Spinner posted an interview with Pete Wiggs in May, and while it's all hoo-ray that the trio is working on their next album, it's a bit sad to hear (or read) him say it may be their last.

"We're just getting ideas together for a new album, which we're going to record this year. A lot of our previous albums have had a unifying concept and this one doesn't. Or rather the concept is that it's less unified and we're going to work with different people. It's quite exciting because we haven't recorded together for ages.

"...It's not like we haven't done anything at all. In 2006, we wrote a soundtrack for a film called What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day? Then the re-issues took up quite a lot of time. It never seemed like the right time for a new album.

"...Because it's potentially the last album—I mean, we're all getting on a bit—I suppose we should treat it like our first album and throw everything into it that we can. But we always think the next album is going to be the last one. Even Foxbase Alpha we thought was going to be our last album."

 Life without the possibility of a new Saint Etienne album coming along every four or five (or in this case, six) years just seems dreary. Anyway, in the meantime, the band has three gigs around the holidays: Glasgow (December 16), Manchester (17) and London (18).