New Order - Lost Sirens

Released January 14, 2013

Lost Sirens is an album filled with songs about 10 years old now. But since New Order got back together, they just released this album. Woohoo.

The first track, "I'll Stay with You" starts with some gospel-like synth, and then turns into a regular alternative rock song quickly. The song quickly puts you in a good mood. The song, however, sounds like a very generic mix of alternative and indie rock. Yes, it's a tried-and-true formula for a good sound; but for a band that at one time led New Wave, it's surprisingly standard.

Next is "Sugarcane," which makes a much better attempt in changing it up. It's still makes you feel-good, but it's composition meshes in dance, alternative, indie, electronica, and everything British. It's got that low, but bright synth. It's chorus makes you actually smile and bob your head. Also, the lyrics are well-written, which is so surprising sometimes.

Next track is "Recoil," which sounds a bit dated, but at the same time it gives you a nice nostalgic feel. The piano here really leads the song, which shows how much of a difference a well-placed piano makes in a piece. The singer sings beautifully here, showing subtle emotion. The percussion is gentle and stays where it should. The whole song is really relaxing, not as "feel-good" as the other songs per se, but it does put you in a good mellow mood.

After is "California Grass," which goes back to the sound of "Sugarcane," except the singer is singing in a deeper voice during the first verse. The chorus in this song, however, is a bit weak, in sharp contrast to the verses, which lead you in to the song intrigued. 3 minutes in, the heavily distorted bridge and following section really work strongly in the context of the song, which is hard to do. Usually when a band has a bridge, they like to introduce an idea that they had that didn't work as a full song, but here it's very fitting.

"Hellbent" is straight up rockin'. It's verses and chorus are really something. The singing is relaxed, while a chaotic amount of different guitar, keyboard, and synth ideas are introduced. This song is really strong, and so far, my favorite off of the album. The only thing that really remains the same is the drums. Good song, good song.

Next track is "Shake It Up," which starts off with corny music that sounds like it belongs in a Tekken game. And then.... it keeps on sounding like that. If the song didn't have any lyrics, that's where this song would exist. The singing does save it a little bit during the verse. However, the chorus is really strong and is very feel-good (sorry for using that a lot). Other than these facts, I really don't like this song too much.

"I've Got a Feeling" is just a song that you can really get into. A song that you follow, with meaningful lyrics, and great instrument performances. I don't think this album has any singles, but if I could nominate one song off of the album, I choose this one. I see a story in my head, of a black and white city, and the singer looking outside of a window of a cable car. Does anyone else see this?

The last song here is "I Told You So." I don't know what to say at this point, the song is pretty boring, it follows the same formula as the first track, and the guitar track gets pretty annoying. Sorry for such a change of heart for this last track, but I can't stand it when albums are so static in their song structure.

This album was rather underwhelming; it was straightforward and boring, it was electronically instrumented but it wasn't charged nor particularly mellow, it was a boring middle ground. I'm sorry to any New Order fans out there, but this album was not a good one.

RATING - 4.5/10