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May 23, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Rob Baker Ashton

British indie-pop trio Saint Etienne have announced a new album, International, which they are describing as their final album, and shared its lead single, “Glad.” “Glad” features Jez Williams of Doves on guitar and was co-written and produced with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers. It was shared via a music video. International is due out September 5 via Heavenly. Below check out “Glad,” followed by the album details.

Saint Etienne are Sarah Cracknell, Pete Wiggs, and Bob Stanley.

The band say they aren’t exactly breaking up and remain best friends, but a press release says “they don’t feel like they want to go on forever and wanted to go out with a bang.” Does this mean they will continue to tour and play shows? Does it really mean that in 10 years they’ll reform and put out a new album? All we know is that the band are calling this their final album and we’ll take them at their word.

International was co-produced with Tim Powell (formerly of Xenomania) and features a slew of other guests, including Confidence Man (whose Janet Planet duets with Cracknell on “Brand New Me”), Erol Alkan, Vince Clarke, Nick Heyward (who duets on “The Go Betweens”), and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.

The album is the quick follow-up to The Night, which only came out last December but was more of a chillout immersive album intended to be listened to in one sitting than a regular Saint Etienne album. The album before that was 2021’s I’ve Been Trying to Tell You.

Cracknell had this to say about “Glad” in a press release: “We asked Tom [Rowlands] if he had any songs in progress that might suit Saint Etienne and he sent a backing track that he’d been working on with Jez from Doves. We fell in love with it straight away and the top line melody and words for ‘Glad’ came easy.”

Wiggs adds: “The song is about taking pleasure in everyday things like nature and the outdoors when life is otherwise getting you down.”

Read our 2025 interview with Saint Etienne on The Night.

Read our 2017 print magazine interview with Saint Etienne.

Read our 2017 extended Q&A with Saint Etienne.

International Tracklist:

1. Glad
2. Dancing Heart
3. The Go Betweens
4. Sweet Melodies
5. Save It For a Rainy Day
6. Fade
7. Brand New Me
8. Take Me to the Pilot
9. Two Lovers
10. Why Are You Calling
11. He’s Gone
12. The Last Time

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