After dropping hints and teasing fans over the past few days, Echo & The Bunnymen today formally announced their 12th studio album Meteorites, which will be released April 28 in the U.K. and then on June 3 in the U.S. — and which will be accompanied by a just-announced spring European tour plus U.S. dates this summer.
The 10-song album is produced by Killing Joke bassist Youth, and will be released by 429 Records in both the U.K. and U.S. All songs are written by frontman Ian McCulloch, and performed by McCulloch and band co-founder Will Sergeant, along with guitarist Gordy Goudie and bassist Stephen Brannan.
Of the album, the band’s first since 2009′s The Fountain, McCulloch says:
“Meteorites, the new Bunnymen album… at long last we’ve made the worthy successor to Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine and Ocean Rain. Meteorites is what Echo and the Bunnymen mean and are meant to be — up there in heaven — untouchable, celestial, beautiful and real. It has changed my life.”
The Bunnymen today also announced a 12-date tour this May that mostly will play the U.K. but also will include a trio of concerts in major cities in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The run of dates opens May 2 in Leamington Spa, U.K., heads to Europe for those three mainland concerts, then returns to the U.K. for eight more shows, wrapping up May 20 in the Bunnymen’s hometown of Liverpool. According to the band’s announcement on Facebook, a fan presale will begin Wednesday ahead of the general on-sale.
“We’re looking forward to playing a selection of the songs from the brand new studio record live for you, as well as some older favourites,” the band writes.
According to the band’s publicity, the Bunnymen will tour the U.S. this summer.
UPDATE: The Bunnymen have now begun taking pre-orders for the new album via PledgeMusic, with a variety of packages available, including, for £1,575, a deal that includes the album and a guitar signed by McCulloch and Sergeant.
Tracklist: Echo & The Bunnymen, Meteorites
1. “Lovers On The Run”
2. “Is This A Breakdown”
3. “Holy Moses”
4. “Meteorites”
5. “Explosions”
6. “Icarus”
7. “I Loved The Devil”
8. “Constantinople”
9. “Market Town”
10. “New Horizons”
Echo & The Bunnymen tour dates:
May 2: Assembly Rooms, Leamington Spa, UK
May 6: Alhambra, Paris, France
May 7: Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
May 8: Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands
May 10: Academy, Oxford, UK
May 11: Wulfurn Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
May 13: Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, UK
May 14: Ritz, Manchester, UK
May 16: Queens Hall, Edinburgh, UK
May 17: Sheperds Bush Empire, London, UK
May 18: Academy, Bristol, UK
May 20: Philharmonic, Liverpool, UK
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Echo & The Bunnymen reveal title, artwork for new album ‘Meteorites’
- Echo & The Bunnymen: New album nearing completion, tours of U.S., Europe planned
- Vintage Video: Echo & The Bunnymen in Liverpool, 1982 — watch 30-minute UK TV special
- Q&A: Echo & The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant on new instrumental trio Poltergeist
- Echo & The Bunnymen to begin recording new Youth-produced album in coming weeks
I listened to live versions “Lovers on the Run” and “Holy Moses” from December and they are completely underwhelming. McCulloch has said that every new album since the reformation has been amazing, so I am sure that he will change his mind within a year on this one.
The problem with their post-reformation material is that it is so formulaic and the lyrics are usually pretty trite. The awful choruses almost always tank the songs like with “Lovers…,” although the verses sound good on that one. “Holy Moses,” on the other hand, is totally forgettable. I am not expecting much from this one, but hopefully it will be better than The Fountain.
“All songs are written by frontman Ian McCulloch”
Worst news ever. Expect an album of adult contemporary ballads heavy on the schmaltz.
Give it a chance kids. The Fountain wasn’t bad it just wasn’t “Ocean Rain”. Although Ian is the author of the new record, he has Will in the studio and you can hear the results in the few songs that have surfaced on the web-especially “Lovers on the Run”. Further, having an outsider produce it (in this case Youth) is helpful in improving the songs IMO.
I’ll be buying it as soon as it’s available and attending at least one of the US shows in the summer. Looking forward to it!
Until then, I’ll listen to Dark Wave every week because I know I can count on Matt to play a song from the Bunnymen.
The Fountain wasn’t bad it just wasn’t “Ocean Rain” – Here’s a few more things The Fountain wasn’t:
Memorable
Good
Bunnymen-esque
Listenable. Oh, and
Good.
You forgot to mention that Ocean Rain had a beautiful album cover, whereas The Fountain’s was butt-ugly (and so is the cover of this new release). What happened to the outdoor band photos that worked so well for their artwork in the past?
“Meteorites is what Echo and the Bunnymen mean and are meant to be — up there in heaven — untouchable, celestial, beautiful and real.”
First, let me say that I liked several of the post-80s Bunnymen albums, especially _Siberia_.
But if Ian is going for an astrophysical analogy with the album title and the quote above, someone needs to educate him on the terms. Sorry for going off the technical end, but a meteorite is a piece of an extraterrestrial body that has fallen to the Earth’s surface intact, i.e. no longer celestial or untouchable (but still real, I guess).
Whether or not it’s beautiful is up to the interests of the discoverer, but most would find a jagged piece of iron composite not so beautiful (astronomers discounted).
Perhaps a better name for the album, based on Ian’s description, would be _Comets_ or possibly _Asteroids_. The latter conjures images of 80s video games, however…