Album Review: Echo & the Bunnymen, Apples for Isaac

While they’ve never stopped touring, it’s been 12 years since the Bunnymen’s last original album, 2014’s Meteorites. On this 13th studio outing, Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant and the band have obviously unearthed a new creative muse, aided and abetted by legendary Blondie drummer Clem Burke on 10 of the 11 tracks (Burke sadly passed away before the album was finished).

Searing opener ‘Take Me By The Hand’ and the strident, slightly gothic ‘The Light That Surrounds You’ are the kind of stadium-friendly singalongs they’ve carved a career from. McCulloch’s voice sounds fabulously fragile and fallible on the beautiful ‘Unstoppable Force’, while lead single ‘Brussels Is Haunted’, complete with ‘sha-la-la’ backing vocals, is one of the catchiest things they’ve ever recorded; considering their back catalogue, that’s some achievement.

They roll back the years on the strident ‘Hijacked’ and the rollicking rock ‘n’ roll of ‘Lab Rats Ran’ (complete with scorching saxophone solo), while the chiming guitars of ‘The Honey’ are combined with backing vocals straight from the ‘60s psych-pop songbook, producing a genuine earworm. Closer ‘We Prayed In The Dark’ is a stately cathedral of sound, a winning combination of chiming guitars and McCulloch waxing metaphysical about “Hark the devil angels sing”.

No fear of the Bunnymen trading on past glories; they’ve still got plenty in the tank.

• Out now.