Good news for St Etienne fans... and there are a lot of them - London's coolest band are back with a brand new album - Words and Music by St Etienne. Which sums it up.
And better news for those who fear this bunch are counting their pennies in a Cornish castle and leaving the Soho and Southbank days far behind them, London is still the musical mecca as far as vocalist Sarah Cracknell is concerned.
"I don't live there at the moment," she tells HuffPostUK. "But as soon as my children have grown up a bit, I'm planning to move back there, and be one of those native Londoners who walks the streets between the tourists."
It's been seven years since St Etienne's last album of new music, but they haven't been sitting on their hands. Collaborations, soundtracks, forays into film production and a musical residence at the Royal Festival Hall have made those months fly by - so what was it like going back into the studio with her old pals Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs? "Very, very comfortable," says Cracknell, smiling. "Like putting on the proverbial slippers."
The shifting sands of the music scene are almost unrecognisable from when Sarah and her bandmates made their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991 - how does she cope with the technology of sound-making, let alone the social media skullduggery involved in distributing music these days?
"I don't," she laughs, with the certainty of somebody who knows they can make a significant contribution in other ways. "It's all French to me. When I heard Radiohead were releasing their album for free download on the web, I was saying, 'They're WHAT?' I am so not with it. Bob and Pete are much better."
And what about the talent show route - does she feel contestants on these shows are getting an easier ride than they've had? "I just worry about them all," she replies. "I hope they've got somebody very caring looking after them all. They bring out my maternal side, not my competitive side."
Sarah's maternal side is evident. Married with two children, she considers herself fortunate to continue to have a musical career, "something I can do in between all the other stuff." So how does she focus on the music when she needs to?
"I just put my music head on and get down to it. I've got two heads, like Worzel Gummidge."
A wonderfully British allusion for a wonderfully British band. Welcome back!
Single: I've Got Your Music single and album: Words and Music by Saint Etienne album released on UMC on 21st May
Saint Etienne play London Palladium on Monday 28th May Click here for more information. Clip below...