Apples for Isaac arrived on 18 September 2026 on BMG, the first Echo and the Bunnymen album of new material since Meteorites in 2014. Ten musicians are credited on it. I have just added it to my Echo and the Bunnymen discography map as its newest station, and logging those ten names turned up three things I did not expect.
Two of the ten have not been in a Bunnymen studio credit since the 2000s. One of them is a drummer from another band entirely, on what turned out to be his final recordings. What follows is the credit list as my research sheet holds it, and what each name does to the shape of the map.
The ten musicians credited on Apples for Isaac
Here is the full roster as it now sits on the sheet, with what each name has done on the map before.
| Musician | Credit | Last seen on the map before this |
|---|---|---|
| Ian McCulloch | Vocals, guitar | Continuous since 1980, bar one record |
| Will Sergeant | Guitar | Every station, no exceptions |
| Clem Burke | Drums | First and only Bunnymen credit |
| Gordy Goudie | Electric guitar | The Fountain, 2009 |
| Simon Finley | Drums | Siberia, 2005 |
| Barrie Barlow | Drums | The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon, 2018 |
| Ste Brannan | Bass | The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon, 2018 |
| Erica Nockalls | Strings, keyboards | New to the map |
| Mike Smith | Credited musician | New to the map |
| Peter Riley | Credited musician | New to the map |
Four brand new lines, four returning ones, and the two that have been there since 1980. For a record made this far into a career, that is an unusually open station.
Clem Burke's last recordings are on this album
Clem Burke co-founded Blondie and drummed on their records for nearly fifty years. He has his own long line on my Blondie discography map, running the length of that catalogue.
On the Bunnymen map, he has exactly one station, and it is this one. The band have said he was integral to making the record and that he died during its completion, before it could be released. The sessions were finished years before the album finally appeared.
I have had to draw this shape before. A credit recorded while someone was alive, printed on a record that reached the shops after they had gone, is a line that simply stops at its first station. On the Stones map, it is Charlie Watts. On the Charlatans map, it is Rob Collins. Here it is, a single short spur, and it is the only Bunnymen credit Clem Burke will ever have.
If you want to see the other half of that story, his Blondie line is the one to trace. Two maps, two completely different shapes for the same drummer.
Gordy Goudie comes back after 17 years
The return I was most pleased to log is Gordy Goudie. His previous Bunnymen credit is The Fountain in 2009, where the sheet has him down for guitar, vocals, bass, e-bow and lap steel. He is back on Apples for Isaac on electric guitar, 17 years later.
Goudie is also the reason two of my maps quietly touch. He worked with Simple Minds as both musician and producer, producing their 2001 album Neon Lights and playing on Cry in 2002, which puts him on the Simple Minds discography map as well as this one.
That is the sort of connection I only find because I log every credited name rather than the famous ones. A player can be a footnote on two separate sleeves and a genuine structural link across two prints.
Three drummers are credited on one station
The oddest thing about Apples for Isaac as a piece of geometry is that three drummers appear on it: Clem Burke, Simon Finley and Barrie Barlow.
Simon Finley has the longest absence on the whole record. His previous credit was Siberia in 2005, which makes this a 21-year gap, the biggest single return anywhere on this map. Barrie Barlow and Ste Brannan both carry over from The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon in 2018.
Drawn out, that means three separate drum lines converge on one station, and only one of them arrives from the distant past. Most albums give me one drummer. This one gave me three, and a rhythm section that had to be assembled out of three different eras of the band.
The line that has still never broken
Will Sergeant is credited on every station on this map, from Crocodiles in 1980 to Apples for Isaac. Forty-six years, and not one gap. He is one of a small handful of musicians across my whole range who have never missed a record by their own band.
Ian McCulloch is almost, but not quite, the same. His line breaks exactly once, at Reverberation in 1990, the album the band made with Noel Burke on vocals while McCulloch was out of the group. On the sheet, there is a single blank cell. On the print it is the only interruption in an otherwise unbroken route, and new buyers spot it faster than anything else on the sheet.
What is not on this map
The map charts the studio albums, plus the documented exceptions this catalogue needs: the Electrafixion record and the 2018 re-recordings sit on it because leaving them off would break the line-up story rather than tidy it. Live albums, compilations and singles collections are otherwise outside the editorial rule. Producers do not get a line unless the credits also show them playing something, which is exactly why Gordy Goudie has one.
Sizes, paper and framing
The print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. Sizes are A2 at 420 x 594 mm and A1 at 594 x 841 mm, plus 24 x 18 in and 36 x 24 in for buyers in the USA. Unframed from £42, or ready to hang in a black wood frame.
For this map I would take A1. The 2026 station is one of the busiest on the sheet, and ten names converging in one place is much easier to read at the larger size. Full detail is on the print specifications page.
Frequently asked questions
When was Apples for Isaac released?
18 September 2026, on BMG. It is the first Echo and the Bunnymen album of new material since Meteorites in 2014, a gap of twelve years.
Who plays drums on Apples for Isaac?
Three drummers are credited: Clem Burke of Blondie, Simon Finley and Barrie Barlow. Burke's contribution was recorded before his death and the album was released afterwards.
How many musicians are credited on the album?
Ten, including Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant. Four of the ten are new to my Bunnymen map, and two are returning after more than fifteen years away.
Is the new album on the art print?
Yes. Apples for Isaac has been added as the newest station, with all ten credited musicians drawn in. Every print is made to order, so the copy you receive is the current version of the research rather than something drawn years ago.
Where do these credits come from?
My own research sheet for the band, built by hand from album credits, liner notes and session archives, one row per musician and one column per record. It is the same sheet the artwork is drawn from.
See the map
The Echo and the Bunnymen discography map now runs to Apples for Isaac. If you want the albums laid out as a chronology instead, I have a separate guide to Echo and the Bunnymen albums in order, and a longer read on how the map reads as a whole.
The rest of the range is in the music map collection. If you are buying for a Bunnymen fan and are not certain which map they would want, there is an art print gift card.
