Echo & The Bunnymen — The Somnambulist
Echo & The Bunnymen released a new track, ‘The Somnambulist’ taken from their forthcoming album ‘The Stars, The Ocean & The Moon’ to be released by BMG on 5 October.
Of the new track it is said “..,that stands proudly amongst those from the band’s undisputed imperial period” and after the first 3 plays, who an I to argue. One of two new songs recorded for their forthcoming album, which sees the band return to their peerless back catalogue to reinterpret thirteen of their most beloved songs with ‘strings and things’, alongside the new tracks ‘How Far’ and The Somnambulist.
Recorded at The Dog House Studios with co-producer Andy Wright, Echo & The Bunnymen handpicked the selection of tracks for the album from their majestic, four-decade spanning archive. Of the new versions, Ian McCulloch said, “I’m not doing this for anyone else. I’m doing it as it’s important to me to make the songs better. I have to do it”.
‘The Somnambulist’ is a welcome addition to a their weighty repo tore, by the way a Somnambulist by definition reads ‘a person who suffers from somnambulism (= a condition in which a person walks around while they are sleeping)’ perhaps a comment on modern life, or a current mind set. Hope it’s not the former, in 2018, Echo & The Bunnymen signal no signs of slowing down, the quality of the new additions ring true, which is no bad thing. 8/10
Steve Janes
Echo & The Bunnymen follow up May’s sold out tour of the UK with a further series of UK dates this autumn to coincide with the album release, as follows.
OCTOBER
Fri 12 DUBLIN Olympia
Sun 14 WARRINGTON Parr Hall
Mon 15 CARDIFF St David’s Hall
Tue 16 READING Hexagon
Thu 18 LONDON Palladium
Sat 20 NORTHAMPTON Derngate
Sun 21 WARWICK Arts Centre
Mon 22 YORK Barbican
The band are also performing with The Libertines at their one-day festival at Joss Bay in Broadstairs, Kent on Saturday 9 September then, following on from the UK tour, Echo & The Bunnymen play shows all across Europe and the USA from late October through to early December.