“I feel like [the record] is [about] looking outside and a yearning for somehow coming together. The world is changing. Watching Obama getting elected was great. We watched it on TV in Santa Barbara and I get goosebumps thinking about that still. It’s going to take a long time, but I think some of that same feeling, that sentiment [of hope] is in the work.” Well, it’s not too optimistic, I hope. Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan talks with the LA Times about the new album, due out in April.
For fans of the old-school sound like yours truly, there’s reason for hope in any case: “‘Martin’s got this new fetish which is basically buying gear on EBay,’ Gahan said. ‘He must have bought up half of the analog equipment around the world. We’ve got all these old drum machines from the 1970s, and even some of the stuff that we used in the ’80s as well, like old Moogs and Arps.’ As an example, Gahan noted that one of the new album’s stars is a piece of gear dubbed ‘The Colonel’ – a vintage 1970s-era Steiner Parker synthesizer. It’s an instrument, said Gahan, ‘that makes crazy noises. We found it really inspiring and used it in a lot of things [on the new record].’“
Apparently the band has finished 18 tracks, 13 of which will appear on the album (and ten of which, happily, are penned by M.L. Gore. I’m not sold on Gahan as a songwriter just yet.) “[T]he band will release a special EP or online-only add-on with the extra material next year.” In the meantime, Dave’s singing back-up for frYars’ “Visitors” (a slightly more New Romantic version of (blatant Joy Division imitators) She Wants Revenge, it seems), and Marty will soon be braving the novelty-music-paparazzi to croon “Master and Servant” once more with lounge act Nouvelle Vague.