MG – MG
(Mute)
LP/CD/DL
27 April 2015
Depeche Mode
founding member releases his third solo album.
Martin Lee
Gore is one of Britain’s most successful songwriters. Since taking over the reigns as Chief Depeche
Mode songwriter from Vince Clarke following his departure to pastures new, Gore
has written some of the finest pop songs of the last thirty years.
Under the
name of Martin L Gore, his previous two albums Counterfeit and Counterfeit2 have
chronicled his musical influences in the form of cover versions of some of his
personal favourite songs. With new album
MG (the acronym he assumed with Clarke as VCMG on 2012’s Ssss album) he ditches
the voice, aside from the odd treated and synthesized effort, in favour of
sixteen instrumental tracks.
Work on MG
began following the end of the Depeche Mode Delta Machine tour in early 2013,
and the result, written recorded and produced by Gore and mixed by Q who
performed the same task on Ssss creates a fascinating soundscape of surprising
depth and power.
His ability
to take the simplest of melodies and add layer upon layer to create cinematic
sounding backdrops is wondrous and the hours put into the album at his Santa
Barbara studio (allegedly five days a week at a minimum) is clear to see. As Gore says “As a songwriter, I am aware of
the power of words….. I am also aware of the power of pure music and
the emotions that can be created by musical atmospheres.”
With the exception
of Europa Hymn (which has the potential to be a massively popular tune), all
the tracks have one-word titles again maybe asserting the simple,
straightforward approach to the album.
Often haunting, as in the evocative Creeper, Gore has the created pieces
which are both modest but also complex and provocative. Opener, Pinking has an almost musical box
feel and Elk like something from the Julee Cruise back catalogue.
Both Spiral
and Stealth have cunning bass lines which underpin restrained hooks and the
ambient industrial feel of Brink is captivating. Ending with the sluggish Blade, MG is as
entertaining as it is bold and assertive once more adding to the already
imposing CV of Mr Gore.
Links
Mute Records
Martin Gore website
Martin Gore on Facebook
Depeche Mode on hiapop Blog
Published on Louder Than War 20/04/15 - here
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