On March 17, the British band Depeche Mode unveiled their studio album named Spirit, the band’s first fresh since 2013.
As you get acquainted with the Spirit, the first thing that catches your eye is the political and ideological coloring of the songs. Previously, the group had only one "purely social" composition - People Are People. With some stretch, we can add Everything Counts too.
However, the political orientation of the album is easy to explain. Vocalist Dave Gahan and composer Martin Gore both live in the US and are known for their pessimistic view of the recent presidential elections and the situation in the EU. "We're fucked" - sings Martin Gore in the final song Fail, and this mood applies to the whole the album.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gahan noted: "I would not say that this is a political album, I do not perceive music from the political view, but this is definitely an album about humanity and our place in it."
By the way, the leader of the American ultra-right Richard Spencer once half-jokingly called Depeche Mode the official right-wing group. The group was pissed off.
The second thing you should pay attention to is the producer. The place of Ben Hillier, who worked with the three previous records of the band (Playing the Angel, Sounds of the Universe and Delta Machine), was taken by James Ford. Before that, he was producing for the Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Florence and the Machine.
The third feature of the album is sound. Here, more attention is paid to analog synthesizers. Therefore, the album recalls the previous work of the group, right down to the very first. Opening track Going Backwards in general can be called a retrospective of DM, so it is filled with their classic "tricks".
The keyboards are complemented by blues guitars, quite "dirty" in sound - and they also refer to the early records. In the song Cover Me, along with the trade-mark DM keyboards, kraut-rock replaced blues to underline the political coloring of texts.
What is more, it is necessary to note the vocals of both Gahan and Gore. It seems that even in the work on the previous disc, that is, in 2012-2013, they were visited by a certain singing revelation. One thing we can say for sure - DM have never sung this way.
Musicians themselves noted in their interviews that Spirit is much closer to Violator and Ultra than to releases of the last 10-15 years, although the aesthetics of Delta Machine are preserved. Speaking of the album's mood it's rather a mix of Ultra with Songs of Faith and Devotion.
In general, the previous Delta Machine can be aggressive, and Spirit is a meditative album. But with the only difference - picture the scene as if meditation took place at a gothic party rather than on a rug for yoga.
The electronic band recently excited their fans with the on-sale for their upcoming Depeche Mode The Global Spirit Tour supporting the new album.
The North American Leg of the tour kicks off August in Salt Lake City and will wrap on October 27th in Edmonton. Some other cities on the tour include: Denver, Clarkston, Tinley park, Uncasville, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, New York, Tampa, Miami, Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Spring, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Chula Vista, San Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and Vancouver.
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