- 2025-08-07
-
MUSIC
-
Saint Etienne Releases New Song “Take Me To The Pilot”
London-based indie-pop trio Saint Etienne, consisting of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, will release their 12th and final album “International” on September 5, 2025.
Following the album, the trio will split and conclude their recording career.
From the album, the band released a new song “Take Me To The Pilot” along with a music video on August 5, 2025.
The song is the second single off of the album, following “Glad” released back in May.
It was written by Bob Stanley, Paul Hartnoll, Pete Wiggs, Phil Hartnoll, and Tim Powell. Produced by Saint Etienne, Paul Hartnoll, and Tim Powell.
The video was directed by Alasdair McLellan and filmed in Doncaster, UK, and Rome, Italy, starring the dancer Jet.
Bob Stanley said of the song, “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 said, “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!”
-
Director Alasdair McLellan said of the video, “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.”
Photo by Rob Baker Ashton - source : Apple Music
