Depeche Mode
Spirit

Punctual as ever with their four-year schedule, Depeche Mode release their new album Spirit, already hailed by the public and critics as their best work at least since Playing The Angel. Certainly, 36 years have passed since Speak and Spell, and for Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Andrew Fletcher, some of that youthful synthpop attitude from the early days, or the dark and industrial style of the glorious 80s and 90s, has long since changed — in fact, it has transformed significantly (for instance, with the shift towards analog ambient in Sound Of The Universe or soul in Delta Machine). In this fourteenth album, beyond the familiar standard touch in the Mode's sound which still appears perfect and functional, as with the appeal of the single Where’s The Revolution (with its genius hook “The train is coming/The engine’s humming/so get on board get on board get on board get...”) or the beautiful Back of Backwards, it is the lyrics that capture the attention of the listener and the ultra-devoted fan more than the excellent texture and musical production, this time entrusted to James Ford.

The Basildon trio switch their communicative register to take a clear and unequivocal “political” stand, bluntly expressing their anger and thoughts to the world openly and without any filter, with the maturity and style of those who have already passed fifty, despite everything. The cover of Spirit already recalls the soviet style of Get The Balance Right, but if at that time the Mode's electronic singles coincided with the mass spread of the early home computers Commodore Vic 20 or 64, today, in the age of the internet and smartphones, it is man who is utterly disappointing and archaic, not being culturally up to par with all the technology he has meanwhile created (“We have not evolved, We have no respect, We have lost control (...) We are going Backwards. Armed with new technology Going backwards To a caveman mentality” rightly declare Depeche Mode in Back of Backwards).

The gloom and darkness that permeate the album from start to finish is almost hopeless and stems from this inability to see an escape from the alienation and estrangement of the times we are going through. What is the post-modern man missing? Simply the Spirit! That’s why we are completely failed, screwed, hopeless, corrupted in the soul, mentally disturbed according to Martin Gore's verdict in Fail, one of the most beautiful tracks of Spirit. The human being of the pre-robotic era is completely alienated from himself, from his Spirit, increasingly an anonymous pawn in unfair and corrupt political-economic systems, incited by mythical-religious type perversions without thought, so dear friends: Where’s The Revolution?

Now, let's leave it to the listener to get a clearer idea of the political and anthropological content shouted and scattered everywhere; otherwise, the album is well-balanced in the length of the tracks, with surprises and dark gems scattered throughout like The Worst Crime, the claustrophobic Poison Heart, the catchy So Much Love. Dave and Martin's interpretation in Poorman is superb, here our guys let us feel what it's like to be beggars, and what moves behind us when we do not look into the eyes of the miserable! Then there's the frustrating tale of Earth's abandonment in Cover Me, the loving interlude of Eternal sung by Gore. Certainly, in Scum and No More (This Is The Last Time) one needs to apply oneself; the listener needs to make an effort and imagine what these two beautiful tracks could have been produced by Trent Reznor. Except for the misstep of You Move, the listening of Spirit progresses perfectly and fairly without overwhelming hits. But this is not a problem. Waiting to see them on tour, the devoted Depeche Mode fan has no use for peak experiences for an album released in mediocre times like 2017 (we aren’t talking about the '80s, are we?).