New Echo & The Bunnymen

I’ll confess, I’m always a little wary about hearing new material from a band that’s been at it for as long as Echo & The Bunnymen. It’s that old Rolling Stones curse – go on long enough, and you’ll inevitably start producing hollow, directionless crap. That sounds incredibly cynical, but it’s simply how I protect myself from musical disappointment. Don’t most of us wish The Stones had quit while they were ahead? U2 post-1995? How many of us pretend that The Clash really ended at Combat Rock instead of Cut the Crap?

Then again, if I consistently stuck to that strategy, I might have written off David Bowie any number of times, and I’d have surely regretted it. So I’ve given McCulloch and co a go around, and I must say it’s not bad at all. Though it doesn’t sound very Echo to me, it actually reminds me more of the Bros Reid and the Mary Chain. Not that it’s a bad thing, far from it. It’s just a bit more relaxed than I’m used to hearing them. The Bunnymen’s music always sounded really urgent to me, like they were squeezing it out right this minute because if they didn’t the world would come to an end or their hearts’ would stop.

Of course the single may not be representative of the entire album, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Give it a spin and see what you think. Album The Fountain is out October 12th in the UK.

Echo & The Bunnymen – I Think I Need It Too

Echo & The Bunnymen – Never Stop

Tags: echo & the bunnymen