Saint Etienne - sweet arcadia, 2017

"The following song, Sweet Arcadia, is the masterpiece. It starts in familiar territory, Sarah narrating a train journey, just as she has on Saint Etienne songs in the past. But this one turns from idyllic catalogue to Wicker Man style threat, the sweet arcadia no longer sounding like the cosy nooks and havens of the lyrics, but instead falling into a spiralling hell of proggy, intoxicated keyboards. Sarah's voice is threatening, the music is anxious and seductive all at the same time. Like a 1970s made for TV ghost story, or Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World come to marvel at the self build homes of Essex and Lewisham. Angel of Woodhatch, the final melody, is a folksy, chiming lament, an arts and crafts folly that would fit nicey into John Betjeman's Metroland."