by Matthew Hilburn
Good Humor has Saint Etienne back cooking up more delectable lolli-pop. From &Woodcabin,& the dubby, bass-heavy opener, Good Humor is a typically arch Saint Etienne album full of easy-listening dream pop. Tracks like the shimmering &Lose That Girl& and the swirling &Erica America& show Saint Etienne at its melancholic best. There are, predictably, some near misses such as the Beatlesque &Mr. Donut,& which is as sweet as a strawberry field but fails to deliver the melodic promises made by the smart atmospherics. &Goodnight Jack,& with its pastel-shaded flute loops and subtle breakbeats, has a positively cooler-than-cool feel and a wrenching change of pace toward the middle of the song. Sure, Good Humor is clever, perhaps overly so, and yeah, it's full of the Et's contrived coyness and we-know-more-than-you attitude, but it's good stuff. Sometimes you just want to put on a disc, sit back, and let it carry you off to someplace else. If that's all you're looking for, Good Humor is sweet ear candy.