Ian, Will and Hugh—back in the U.S.S.R.
It’s hard to imagine Ian McCullough and Will Sergeant, the two remaining and essential Bunnymen, kicking back for a pint and a laugh. Certainly not on Siberia, the latest raincoat-athon from the sultans of psychedelic dourness, on which McCullough’s iconic tenor floats, wavering lines like “Yeah, that’s me, cold as ice / On my knees, every night.” It’s classic Bunnymen: single-note guitar solos phased over dark, cold lyrics and juxtaposed against Mac’s warm post-Bowie croon. But there’s something disconcerting about Siberia’s familiarity. The Bunnymen sound more like their once-contemporaries—the Psychedelic Furs on “Sideways Eight,” U2 on “All Because of You Days”—than the band ever did on, say, Ocean Rain. Perhaps it’s the result of studio reminiscences with Hugh Jones, the Heaven Up Here producer, who’s onboard for the first time since ’81. Or perhaps, after a quarter-century of stardom, Mac and Will feel as alone as it gets in rock ’n’ roll—like they’re back in the pop gulag where it all began.