I've been listening to the new New Order single non-stop for the last two days. Underwhelming at first, it gathers force, like one of Hooky's classic bass lines. When Barney acknowledges that there's a bigger world of which he's only recently become aware – a world in which people go to work "to get paid" instead of sleeping off weekday hangovers – it's a quiet shock. You realize that, after almost 30 years of commenting on and then succumbing to decay, dissipation, and euphoria, he's become the engaged adult which maturity is supposed to produce: maturity absent of complacency. The sweetness of the synthesized chimes rubs against Steve Morris' muscular drumming in all the right ways: reality colliding with sentimentality.

I like how he still hasn't lost his connection to whatever muse feeds him naff lyrics.

Inspirational lyrics:

"I bet the world is a beautiful place
with mountains, lakes, and the human race"