I must admit, this was my first exposure to Echo and the Bunnymen. A quick query through Google yielded some basic background info: Echo and the Bunnymen is a British post-punk rock band that formed in 1978 and had a string of hits in the 80s. You might have heard their song "Killing Moon" in the film Donnie Darko.
Siberia is the Bunnymen's ninth and most recent studio album, filled with upbeat, catchy guitar-based tunes that explore love, life, loneliness and hope. Some standout tracks include "Parthenon Drive," which reflects on the sequential stages in life, as well as "All Because Of You Days" and "Make Us Blind," which celebrate love.
Their sound is based on the usual guitar/keyboards/drums foundation and is quite radio-friendly. "Stormy Weather" starts the album with a light, jangling guitar line that accompanies Ian McCulloch's lead vocals. Throughout the album, the band's sound ranges from catchy mid-tempo rock to an angrier, more aggressive style.
"Everything Kills You" and "Siberia" are the depressing pair of the album. McCulloch's voice loses the growling roughness of earlier tracks and adopts a more fragile tone, which successfully contributes to the gloomy atmosphere. In "Siberia," McCulloch expresses melancholy emptiness, singing "Where am I/Still trying to find the light/That burns the northern sky/A rarer borealis."
The main nitpick I have with the Bunnymen is with their lyrics, which are sometimes noticeably weak. Occasionally the words don't make sense (arguably, they're ambiguous enough for listener interpretation), other times they're just plain cringe-worthy. "Scissors in the Sand" is puzzling and vague: "Ethereally mine/Magic trees/They really used to shine/My silver leaves/Bet you're wondering how (x4)."
Bet you're wondering how... what?
The choruses in "Everything Kills You" are variations on "Everything takes you/Everything aches you/Everything breaks you/Everything spills you/Everything ills you/Everything kills you." Too much repetition and bad rhyming equals poor writing in my book.
"What if We Are?" ends the album effectively sound-wise with a gentle piano introduction, but the lyrics are lacking again, asking a series of questions that probe romantic relationships and answering with a chorus of "Then It's Love/Yes It's Love/Like It Should Be (repeat)." It's a sweet song, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
If you don't actively search for deep, original lyrics in your music, Siberia's writing probably won't bother you too much. Otherwise, Echo and the Bunnymen have produced an aesthetically pleasing modern rock album composed of catchy songs that may just get stuck in your head. I know they'll be stuck in mine.
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