The Fountain is the eleventh studio album from Echo and the Bunnymen, and the fifth since their reformation in 1997. It features a guest spot from COLDPLAY's Chris Martin, who contributed to a track after he signed on head Bunnyman Ian McCulloch for production duties on A Rush of Bloodto the Head.

McCulloch has stated to the 's Sunday Mail that this album sounds like a debut record, and that he has his "...crocodilian spike back, that way I write lyrics about everything but nothing specific." The Scottish songwriter John McLaughlin produced The Fountain.

Reviewing The Fountain for the British music magazine Mojo, Johnny Sharp described the album as "mid-tempo, middle of the road, middle-aged pop-rock". In The Guardian, Dave Simpson gave the album four stars. He described the album as, "Their most accessible offering in a long time sees Ian McCulloch at his most lyrically ­playful and cocksure, hovering between confessional [...] and mischievous, and firing off one-liners as ifit were the band's 80s heyday. Will Sergeant's guitar-playing is at its scintillating best. Their ­poppiest tunes since 'Bring On the ­Dancing Horses' could win the Scouse veterans a new generation of fans."