Slideling

Slideling

Echo & The Bunnymen had already broken up and triumphantly reformed before frontman Ian McCulloch released his third solo album in 2003. By then, Mac had obviously learned to croon with an effortless kind of charm, which works wondrously when he’s collecting regrets and sadnesses, like on “Playgrounds and City Parks” (“I knew I’d never leave this street/I love the taste of self-defeat”) and on the beautiful, acoustic–steered “She Sings (All My Life)." But it ain’t Mac unless he’s questioning mortality (his own or that of others), which he does ruefully on both the Lou Reed–ish “Baby Hold On” and the tender “Another Train.” Too, there’s some Iggy lite (“Love in Veins”), Bunnymen-esque raga-pop (“Stake Your Claim”), and straight-up note-bending pop (“High Wires”). Listen for Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Johnny Buckland adding some backup vocals, piano, and guitar to the melancholic mini-epics “Sliding” and “Arthur.” Slideling is appealingly breezy and string-lively but with a spare, nuanced, and airy feel, like songs written and sung on acoustic guitars.

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