A pivotal 1980s outfit led by Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant returns with its thirteenth album, sometimes cruising on autopilot, yet it preserves a few bright flashes.
What has become of our eighties? A decade perhaps set apart, ill-used for good reasons, sometimes celebrated for the worst, the 1980s remains one of the most prolific eras and a surprising reservoir of pop history treasures, where many bands — neither clearly new wave, nor perfectly post-punk — still await their moment in the bargain-bin limbo. Among the eternal seconds, Echo & The Bunnymen has secured a warm place in the official catalog: with Crocodiles (1980), Porcupine (1983) and Ocean Rain (1984), these Liverpudlians have engraved at least three masterpieces in British memory.
Announced by the punchy single Brussels Is Haunted, which sounds like a comeback with the same assurance as Nothing Lasts Forever more than thirty years ago (as the radiant The Light That Surrounds You confirms later on), Apples for Isaac seems to have the mission of proving to the world that the band still measures up to McCulloch’s ambitions. Who, in terms of swagger, could make Liam Gallagher look like Calimero. The compositions are tight, and the emotion comes first from the context: the pleasure of reconnecting with a galvanised band, and the twinge of discovering Clem Burke’s drums, ex-Blondie and ex-Ramones, who passed away in 2025.
Few Risks Taken
By really betting all on efficiency (the very physical Take Me By the Hand and Can’t Be Sold in the opening), and wrapping themselves in a welcome but somewhat tamed reverb, Echo in its 2026 incarnation takes few risks, to the point of appearing autopilot on Hijacked, Lab Rats Ran or Asimov. Unlike the recent surprising releases from fellow travelers The Cure or The Durutti Column, this new album will inevitably be less essential than the peaks of the past.
But Apples for Isaac is above all, in its entire discography, the one where Echo & The Bunnymen seem to take the most pleasure in driving catchy melodies at full throttle, showing confidence in delivering an instant classic at every turn. This is achieved at times, notably on I’ll Be Your Sunshine, and then with the pop-perfect pairing The Honey/An Unstoppable Force, which spans from acid to honeyed tones — one can amuse oneself imagining how Unstoppable could be wrecked by a Bono-esque vocal, and thus gauge the value of Ian McCulloch’s delivery. At the end of the album, the very beautiful We Prayed in the Dark, which synthesizes the melancholic inclination and the songwriter’s brighter facet, reminds us that, in the absence of astonishment, we have indeed rediscovered a reliable strength.
Apples for Isaac (BMG). Release on September 18.
