Stephen Becker has acquired some talented friends in the few on-and-off decades since he launched Le Concorde, his artfully cerebral riff on the ’80s sophisti-pop scene that was an unexpected offshoot of British new wave. Several of those connections appear on “Saint James,” the latest single from Second Mansions, the first Le Concorde LP in 15 years.
Names include Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish, Beck), Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star), Lewis Gordon (Deacon Blue) and Ross McFarlane (Proclaimers). Produced by the venerable Calum Malcolm (Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout), the tune has the sweeping, stylized feel of a lost Factory Records b-side.
“‘Saint James’ is actually how this whole album got started,” says Becker, who’s currently based in Los Angeles. “I had the initial inspiration for it in 2019 on the streets of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which is James’ resting place and, in a sense, his home on earth.”
Becker was in awe of the massive cathedral that holds Saint James’ tomb. “Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come there every year,” he says. “The tradition is to hike to Compostela—and the length of the hikes vary. Some people hike for over a month, passing through the Pyrenees in southern France.”
We’re proud to premiere Le Concorde’s “Saint James.”
—Hobart Rowland
