Deaths and rebirths of Depeche Mode
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In an interview a few years ago Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher retraced the career of Depeche Mode summarizing it as “an incredible dream that has come true”. On more than one occasion, the keyboardist and founding member of the British band recalled the plan drawn up by some accountants: a few years of sustainability. And instead, the musician said: “We continued to become more and more popular; we had to throw that piano away.”
Memento Mori
Fletcher passed away in May of 2022, when Depeche Mode was already an institution for a long time. His bandmates – singer Dave Gahan and guitarist and keyboardist Martin Gore – continued the writing work that began in the pandemic and recorded what would become Memento Mori. The album is both a celebration of the band’s musical legacy and a tribute to the late musician. It is an album that slowly immerses the listener in a warm and dark electronic pop matrix. It is a reflection on mortality and an elaboration of mourning that intersect in one of the most inspiring albums that the band has released in recent decades. Memento Mori begins with My Cosmos Is Mine, a dark march pouring in Wagging Tonguea piece in which more light filters through and where, for a moment, it seems to be listening to the synth of the classic Just Can’t Get Enough.
Ghosts Again
One of the most intense moments on the record is Ghosts Againwritten together with Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs, who, with a video inspired by the famous scene of the chess match with the death of The seventh Mrillo, reflects on the transience of life and on the very meaning of death. Soul With Mewith its slow cadence, is a contemplation on aging while in Don’t Say You Love Me Gahan’s seductive velvety voice stands out.
My Favorite Stranger marks another inspired moment on the record, with enveloping rhythms and synths that slice through the air in an atmosphere made even more eerie by blade-sharp guitars.
In Memento Morithen, there are two Italian excellences that have made a fundamental contribution. Marta Salogni left Brescia at the age of twenty with the dream of working with music; she made it by moving to London, working as a sound engineer, she as a mixer and producer of some albums by her, among others, Björk, David Byrne, Frank Ocean, The Xx. In 2019 she was nominated for a Grammy, in 2022 she was designated UK Producer of the Year and on the latest Depeche Mode album she has juggled between composing, programming, mixing and producing. The string arrangements were signed by Davide Rossi, violinist and producer from Turin who has also worked with Coldplay, Goldfrapp, Duran Duran.
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