Lost Sirens

When faced with a surplus of material, most bands choose to release a double album—think Bob Dylan’s <i>Blonde on Blonde</i>, or <i>The Beatles</i>. Some will even divide the goodies into back-to-back releases, creating sibling albums like Radiohead’s <i>Kid A</i> and <i>Amnesiac</i>. But only New Order would release one set of songs and then wait eight years to issue the next batch from the same sessions. The songs that make up 2013’s <i>Lost Sirens</i>—the follow-up to 2005’s <i>Waiting for the Sirens’ Call</i>—were intended to be unveiled much earlier. But when founding member Peter Hook departed the band in 2007, New Order’s plans went awry, and the unheard tunes went into the vault. They might never have seen the light of day had the remaining original members of New Order—singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris and synth player Gillian Gilbert—hadn’t decided to eventually carry on with <i>Lost Sirens</i> with the help of guitar player Phil Cunningham and brand-new bass player Tom Chapman. “Hellbent” was the first lost track to appear, released as a single in conjunction with a best-of compilation featuring songs from both New Order and Joy Division. By the time the rest of the <i>Lost Sirens</i> tunes arrived, the newly reformed New Order was once again an active touring unit. Although its telling that none of the songs from <i>Lost Sirens</i> made it into the band’s set list, the music is as vibrant as anything else from the band’s late-era output.