Saint Etienne are big fans of Christmas. "I Was Born on Christmas Day," their 1993 single featuring The Charlatans' Tim Burgess, has become a holiday staple, and they regularly release limited edition albums via their fanclub during the yuletide season. They've just announced a new holiday EP, titled Her Winter Coat, that's out now via Heavenly.
The title track is keeping with the liminal vibes of this year's excellent I Was Trying to Tell You, with a decidedly glacial, crystalline feel. "It's been a while since our last really Christmassy Christmas record," says Bob Stanley. "But I think Pete has done a properly beautiful, icy, frosted, festive job on 'Her Winter Coat’." The EP also includes another lovely new song, "A Kiss Like This," which is a little more in Saint Etienne's normal synthpop wheelhouse, and instrumental "Lillehammer."
There's also a video for "Her Winter Coat," which was made by Alasdair McLellan who made the I Was Trying to Tell You film. "When I first heard ‘Her Winter Coat’, I thought it sounded really dreamy, otherworldly and magical," says McLellan. "I was keen to shoot the video as a vague continuation of the film ‘I’ve Been Trying To Tell You’, and carry on the narrative of three characters from the film, and then also set it in Scotland as that’s where that film ends.
"I’ve always loved the Western Isles in Scotland and also the ferries that take you from one island to the next,"McLellan continues. "Particularly the ferry from the Isle of Mull to Iona. Iona is such a beautiful mystical island, so I wanted to tell the story of a girl running away from her troubles on the mainland and escape all the way to Iona on a spiritual journey to give herself some time to think. Just like in the song."
Watch the "Her Winter Coat" video and listen to the whole EP below.
Read our interview with Bob Stanley about I Was Trying to Tell You.
