New Order is Just “Waiting For The Sirens’ Call”

After the planet-shagging success of 2001’s “Get Ready” and 2002’s “this-is-how-you-do-it” four-CD boxset “Retro,” Manchester’s finest ever band, New Order, return with their new, hotly anticipated album, “Waiting For The Sirens’ Call.” Showcasing New Order’s unique ability to both shake the dancefloor and rock the hardest, “Sirens'” is that rare thing: an album for everyone. It features eleven songs with influences as diverse as electro, rock, dancehall and punk, all bound together by New Order’s cool romance, diamond-hard modernity and wild, unparalleled musicality.

First single “Krafty” is bass-driven, machine-like, and ridiculously catchy. The title track is wistful and sublime, considered by the band to be one of the best tracks they’ve ever made. Then there’s the perfect pop of “Jetstream” (Bernard’s vocals augmented by Scissor Sister Ana Matronic); the wry, hilarious regret of “Morning Night And Day”; “I Told You So’s” reckless ragga lope; the Iggy stomper “Working Overtime”; and the anthemic, tuneful “Hey Now What You Doing.” “Waiting For The Sirens’ Call” is the diverse, devastating, delicious sound of a great band at its peak.

This energetic, upbeat album was carefully recorded over seven months, using a ‘Who’s Who’ of producers, including Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths), John Leckie (Pink Floyd, Stone Roses), Stuart Price (Madonna) and New Order themselves. A sustained burst of songwriting by the band resulted in 18 completed songs, a first for New Order. Says Bernard, “We usually do just enough for an album, ten songs and it’s done. The seven tracks left off ‘Sirens” are so strong that they are likely to form the basis of a future LP.” Phil Cunningham, recruited as guitarist when New Order took “Get Ready” on the road, had the privilege of being invited by Bernard, Hooky and Steve to join the songwriting process for this new record. “I found it strange at first,” he says, “because New Order use a lot of technology. And sometimes they reject stuff because it sounds ‘too New Order-y.'” “It’s the heart and the soul of New Order that’s important,” explains Bernard. “If something sounds like a pastiche, that’s not good enough.”

Rejecting the obvious has always been New Order’s technique. In their 28-year career, they’ve changed the face of pop music on more than one occasion. As Joy Division, they ripped up rock’s rule book by making music that was heavy and subtle, glacial, yet full of lament. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” has just been chosen as one of The Brits 25-best songs ever written. Then, as New Order, they were light years ahead of the dance scene with the world’s best-ever-selling 12″ single “Blue Monday,” before bringing Manchester to the masses with the platinum-selling album “Technique.” As an aside, they made the only cool football anthem ever made, “World In Motion,” which went to Number One, as well as having hits with various side projects such as Electronic, Monaco and The Other Two.

The New Order legacy is undeniable, yet the band keeps coming up with more. “Waiting For The Sirens’ Call” is so packed with pop tunes, it sounds like a Greatest Hits collection. Bernard’s lyrics cover computers, hangovers, the folly of man’s lust — and even Dracula’s castle (a reference to St. Catherine’s, the Jane Seymour-owned studio where part of “Sirens'” was recorded). His voice has never sounded better, Hooky’s mournful, gorgeous bass twists throughout, Phil’s guitars add warmth and depth, and Stephen’s drumming and looping show the imitators how it’s done.

There is no other band that unites both “spotty students and football hooligans” (Bernard), as well as housewives and rock stars, the art-set and the mainstream, indie-lovers and dance nutters. No other band that can wring such emotion from machines or make guitars sound so fresh. No one else is so spiky, so startling, innovative and inspirational; no one else makes pop music for clever people that hits the heart as well as the head. In 2005, when every other up-and-coming band cites Joy Division