Deja Fu

Twenty-five years after they formed in Basildon, England, Depeche Mode is back with their eleventh album, Playing the Angel.

Depeche Mode hit their height in the late 80’s and early 90’s with a string of albums that just seemed to get better and better. Black Celebration, Music for the Masses, Violator, and Songs of Faith and Devotion propelled them to selling out 70,000 seat venues – on multiple nights. However, shortly after Devotion, band member Alan Wilder left, citing lack of credit for his work. Many people saw Wilder as the musician of the group ( with Gahan as the singer, Gore the songwriter, and Fletcher the businessman). Gore would write the songs, which were demo quality, and in the studio, Wilder would be charged with arrangement and production, transforming the song from a raw demo into the polished release.

DM’s subsequent offerings, Ultra and Exciter seemed to give that theory a lot of credibility. With Wilder gone, the production seemed to spin in place. The albums had good songs on them, but none of them were an “Enjoy the Silence,” a “Stripped,” or a “Never Let Me Down Again.”

Playing the Angel returns Depeche Mode back to this hallowed era. While some reviews see it as a return to Violator, I find it has more in common with Devotion than any other album. Even the opening track, “A Pain That I’m Used To” evokes the harsh feedback from “I Feel You” (with some aural similarities to the Breeders). Lyrically, this album also follows Devotion’s themes of religion and love (three of the tracks specifically mention angels – hence the name). The album contains a raw energy, which rather than glossed over by the production, is channelled and amplified.

Gahan makes his debut as a songwriter on a Depeche Mode album, being credited with three of the tracks, while the rest are Gore’s compositions. Maybe it was the introduction of another songwriter, but Gore has written some quality tunes here. Still working with the twin themes of depair and loss, “Depressed Mode” hasn’t lost their touch in that respect. However, even when they are at their darkest, the music retains an energy lost in most other “Goth” offerings of dirge and sadness. They know how to make misery actually fun.

They’ll be coming here in November and I’ve already got my tickets. This will be my fifth tour seeing them perform live and I expect it will be one hell of a show. Twenty-five years is a long time in the music industry, but with this album, DM proves they could easily be around for twenty-five more.