Echo and The Bunnymen - Parthenon Drive

Echo and The Bunnymen have gone nowhere. For the last 26 years, they have provided anthems of anguish and love influencing three generations of artists, their music appearing prominently in film soundtracks and consistently standing the test of time and circumstance. In a culture that is so driven by youth, it's easy to see bands like this become swallowed by all that they have created. Some bands in the years now facing Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant would be resting on their laurels, content to have been consistently critically lauded, to have brought pricelessly memorable songs like "The Killing Moon", "The Cutter", "Lips Like Sugar" or "Bring On The Dancing Horses" to life. If Siberia, the first release from E&TB in four years, is any indication, the grace with which their music and songwriting has aged is clearly unmatched by any of the young guns and hipster bands whose sound bears allegiance to them.

These 11 songs showcase the places where time has worn itself into the golden voice of it's lead singer, but not with the swan song staccato of several of his contemporaries. The sandpaper harmonies come pouring out with a ferality, an aching warmth and immediacy paralleling their best work. The quality of the songwriting has never been more razor sharp, the rhythmic neo-psychedelia of the arrangements as clean as if they were laid on the self-titled 1987 release Echo & The Bunnymen.

Of all the albums that will be referred to this year as "comeback" albums, none are as deserving of your full attention as this one. Echo and The Bunnymen have never left us, but I have not listened to an album this consistently listenable from them since that 1987 release. If you've ever been a fan of this band, you will not only not be disappointed, you'll be filled with an unmistakeable sense of reverence for just how far they've come when you listen to Siberia. You absolutely must buy this CD.

Click here to stream the album Siberia by Echo & The Bunnymen