MY DINNER WITH ANDREW

“I mean, our life is tough enough as it is. I’m not looking for ways to get rid of a few things that provide relief and comfort. I mean, on the contrary, I’m looking for more comfort because the world is very abrasive. I mean, I’m trying to protect myself because, really, there’s these abrasive beatings to be avoided everywhere you look!”

—WALLACE SHAWN, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE

The Sisters of Mercy, a rock ’n’ roll band, have not put out a new song since Aug. 16, 1993. The band tours regularly, to a fan base that retains its ardor despite the band’s reputation for a live show commonly described as “erratic.” Some years back, Andrew Eldritch promised that a new album would be released if Donald Trump was elected president. If this promise had been fulfilled it would have been his first since 1990’s Vision Thing, an album inspired by the sort of casual “you had to be there” carnage that could only be tossed around by an empire that didn’t know what was coming. In Eldritch’s defense, the Sisters of Mercy frontman didn’t say which Trump administration would trigger said release of new music.