Depeche Mode frontman Martin Gore has opened up about the band’s new album since the death of band member – Andrew Fletcher – saying the songs aren’t depressing.
The keyboardist died suddenly in May from a tear in his heart artery.
The electronic music pioneers said their 15th album, Memento Mori, due out in March, was inspired both by the pandemic and the loss of Fletcher – but they said their new songs aren’t depressing.
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Songwriter Martin Gore said: “Yeah, I think some of the songs have a touch of that, but I don’t think it is depressing. If you hear the tracks that we played during the press conference today, there is one of them at the moment that we haven’t finalised the title yet but we’re calling it Ghosts Again and I think it is really uplifting and joyous if you listen to it, even though it’s called Ghosts Again.
“So hopefully I think there is always an element of joy and ability to lift people up in our music,” he told Radio Nova’s Jim McCabe and PJ Gallagher. The full interview can be heard on the pair’s radio show on Wednesday.
"We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time.
"After Fletch's passing, we decided to continue as we’re sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning."
Lead singer Dave Gahan added: "Fletch would have loved this album. We’re really looking forward to sharing it with you soon, and we can’t wait to present it to you live at the shows next year."
Depeche Mode have announced their first tour in five years, following the death of Fletcher.
Gahan said at a press conference in Berlin yesterday that after a long absence, the band was ready to embrace its fans again with a series of big stadium shows also beginning in March, in Sacramento, which arrives in Dublin's Malahide Castle on June 14 2023 for what will be their biggest ever Irish concert.
Tickets from €79.65 including booking fee go on sale at 9am this Friday at Ticketmaster.ie.
Speaking about the new tour, the band’s 19th, Gahan added: "We get to make music and we get to play music for you and hopefully bring a sense of joy and togetherness, you know, in our own small way, in a world that seems to be constantly in some kind of turmoil."
Memento Mori will be Depeche Mode's 15th studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed Spirit, which reached #1 in 11 territories, charting in the Top 5 in more than 20 others. Memento Mori will be released worldwide in Spring 2023 via Columbia Records.
Having sold more than 100 million records and played to more than 35 million fans worldwide, Depeche Mode remains an ever-evolving and singularly influential musical force.
An indelible inspiration to fans, critics and artists alike, Depeche Mode continues to forge ahead, with the Memento Mori album and tour representing the opening of the newest chapter of a peerless and ongoing legacy.
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