Echo & the Bunnymen: Meteorites

The music industry ain't what it used to be when a band with a legacy like Echo & the Bunnymen's has to finance albums via PledgeMusic. That doesn't diminish their 12th studio album in any way, nor does the fact that most of these songs were recorded separately by masterminds Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant. Producer Youth brings a full, vigorous sound to Holy Moses and the swirling, mystical Constantinople, while the chorus of the title track cracks open a vault of colourful layers after a stately, string-laden intro. Burn It Down and Explosions sound safe by comparison. Still, they're forgivable transgressions when the tracklisting contains the slouchy pop-rock Grapes Upon the Vine and Lovers on the Run, the latter hewn from the same atmospheric cloth as the iconic Killing Moon. bunnymen.com

Download: Constantinople, Grapes Upon the Vine