‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’: Inside New Order’s Beguiling Eighth Album

With the basis of around 20 new songs to play with, New Order had enough material for almost two albums – and, indeed, eight of the tracks later surfaced on 2013’s Lost Sirens. They prioritised the tracks for Waiting For The Sirens’ Call, however, and these slowly came together during sessions at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios and actress Jane Seymour’s Tudor-era manor house, St Catherine’s Court, outside Bath. The latter location was supposedly haunted, and New Order soaked up the curious atmosphere while they were in residence.

“My room was reputed to be the most haunted, where an illegitimate offspring had reputedly been roasted on the ancient fireplace,” Stephen Morris wrote in Fast Forward. “But, despite the 15th Century baby’s crib that occasionally rocked by itself, the spirits didn’t trouble me much. The scratching coming from behind the oak-panelled walls was probably just rats, I speculated hopefully.”

Ghosts, though, weren’t the only outside presence communing with New Order during the sessions. The band also found their record label’s suggestion that they work with a number of hot-shot producers to be something of a mixed blessing.

“There were a lot of cooks and a lot of broth”

“At different times, on Sirens, we worked with Stephen Street, Jim Spencer, John Leckie, Tore Johannsson, Mac Quayle, Stuart Price and [Get Ready producer] Steve Osborne, though Stephen Street did the bulk of it,” Morris reflected “There were a lot of cooks and a lot of broth, so things got spilt at times.”

Nonetheless, one memorable collaboration emerged in the shape of the blissful, shimmering disco-pop of Jetstream: a UK Top 30 hit, for which the band were joined by guest vocalist Ana Matronic, of New York City disco revivalists Scissor Sisters. Stylistically, though, Jetstream wasn’t representative of Waiting For The Sirens’ Call, which mostly continued in the direction suggested by New Order’s previous release, Get Ready. This meant that bracing blasts of guitar-based angst with bitters such as Who’s Joe, Hey Now What You Doing and the hard-edged, Stooges-esque Working Overtime were primarily the order of the day.

Perhaps more pertinently, the record also included two vintage, guitar-driven classics, both of which were released as singles and received fulsome praise from both the band and press alike.

“New Order outdo themselves”

“Bernard [Sumner, singer] has said Waiting For The Sirens’ Call is his favourite New Order song ever, and it is a lovely song,” Peter Hook wrote in his memoir Substance. “And it’s got a great bass riff, too – thank you god of riffs!”

“Krafty is such a strong pop song,” The Guardian’s Alex Petridis wrote in his review of Waiting For The Sirens’ Call. “And the title track is perfection itself: softly pulsing electronics, an improbably simple and beautiful melody and a bassline that wraps itself around the vocals in a way no other band would think of doing. That one moment suggests a teenager, drawn to New Order for the first time by their current influence, might understand what all the fuss is about.”

With all this positivity flying around, it’s a shame that the album became the last one the group would record with Peter Hook. Revisiting this time in Fast Forward, Stephen Morris noted diplomatically that “pointless, petty disputes always arise in bands”, but also admitted that the situation “was beyond the usual”.

“Virtually every song is great”

Nonetheless, the band got the record over the line. The effort was worth it, too: released on 28 March 2005, Waiting For The Sirens’ Call quickly established itself as yet another essential New Order record whose highlights could stand among the best New Order songs. Yielding a silver disc for the trailblazing Manchester band, it still displays all the hallmarks of a long-term keeper.

“On Waiting For The Sirens’ Call, New Order outdo themselves with the sleek pop uplift of Krafty, the moody shimmer of Turn and the towering title track,” Rolling Stone wrote in response to the album’s initial release. “Virtually every song is great, so what more could a fan ask for?”

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