Echo & The Bunnymen Reinterpret Their Hits On New Album — Hear “Seven Seas (Transformed)”

Echo & The Bunnymen Reinterpret Their Hits On New Album — Hear “Seven Seas (Transformed)”

Echo & The Bunnymen, the legendary ’80s post-punkers, are looking to the past with the release of their first new album in four years. The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon, the follow-up to 2014’s Meteorites, will find the band revisiting their back catalogue by reinterpreting 13 songs from their decades-long career with “strings and things.”

The album — which also features two new compositions, “The Somnambulist” and “How Far?” — was recorded at the Dog House Studios with co-producer Andy Wright. “I’m not doing this for anyone else. I’m doing it as it’s important to me to make the songs better,” says frontman Ian McCulloch in a press release. “I have to do it.”

The LP will be out in October, and today, they’ve shared its first track, a “transformed” reimagining of the hit “Seven Seas” from their 1984 studio album Ocean Rain, which we named one of the band’s 10 best songs. Slower, sparer, and more nakedly emotional, you can listen to the new version of “Seven Seas” and compare it to the old one below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Bring On The Dancing Horses”
02 “The Somnambulist”
03 “Nothing Lasts Forever”
04 “Lips Like Sugar”
05 “Rescue”
06 “Rust”
07 “Angels & Devils”
08 “Bedbugs & Ballyhoo”
09 “Zimbo”
10 “Stars Are Stars”
11 “Seven Seas”
12 “Ocean Rain”
13 “The Cutter”
14 “How Far?”
15 “The Killing Moon”

Echo & The Bunnymen and Violent Femmes will hit the road together for a co-headlining US tour this summer. Check out the dates below.

TOUR DATES:
07/12 San Antonio, TX @ Tobin Center
07/13 Austin, TX @ ACL Live Moody
07/14 Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center
07/15 Irving, TX @ The Pavilion
07/17 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
07/18 Atlanta, GA @ State Bank Amphitheater
07/20 Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues
07/21 St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre
07/23 Richmond, VA @ The National
07/24 Norfolk, VA @ Norva
07/25 Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
08/11 Waynesville, Ohio @ Bellwether Music Festival*

* = No Violent Femmes

The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon is out 10/5 via BMG. Pre-order it here.

more from New Music