If you’d told David Gahan and Martin Gore a year before the release of this latest album (which was still in the making at that time) that its title would be somewhat foreboding, the pair would likely have agreed, but for a rather different reason. Memento Mori roughly translates to ‘remember you’re going to die’—that’s what was on Gahan’s mind having just entered his sixties, whilst also remembering his stepfather, the man who raised and cared for him, who had died at just 61. But fate would prove both twisted and cruel when, without warning, it would take the life of Andy Fletcher on 26th May 2022. Depeche Mode’s third man was just 60 years old.
However, this sudden death was not what primarily guided the somber, melancholic content of the record. Most of it was composed during the pandemic, which must have forced the band to ask themselves countless questions about their existence, their future and how these doubts would be manifested within their music (though Fletcher’s death would inevitably alter their approach to these same compositions). This all gives rise to a record which, whilst rejecting any semblance of ‘joie-de-vivre’, is a real return to more gothic, vintage and organic sounds. The album’s quasi-industrial opener, “My Cosmos is Mine”, sets the tone for the darker journey to come. The album takes a more stripped-back approach to the melodies, where Gahan’s sobering voice steers clear of all excess.
In the midst of this darkness, the emphasis on synthesized sounds from a seemingly bygone era strikes a nostalgic chord without losing its edge (”Wagging Tongue”, “Never Let Me Go”). These textures are accompanied by more saturated tones, taking us right back to their flirtations with rock in the 90s (”My Favourite Stranger”). Memento Mori sounds like a kind of condensed version of the band’s more delicate songs without becoming a simple reconstruction of them. It has a subtle beauty which surely highlights the expertise of the musicians behind it, despite being somewhat overshadowed by the erratic nature of their discography over the last twenty years. Light filters through the cracks here and there on this album however, like the song “People are Good’” reminiscent of the classic “People are People” released almost forty years ago. Remember that you’re meant to enjoy it…
Although the band has produced a number of hit singles, Depeche Mode has had a harder time convincing the media and some of its original fans as it enters the 21st century. Although their albums have many good qualities, they sometimes struggle to deliver content that holds up over their entire length. Only Playing the Angel, released in 2005, will win all the votes. Paradoxically, this is the period during which the English band began to fill arenas and stadiums like never before, taking advantage of their heritage by arranging set lists around the great classics that made gave them their reputation. Against all odds, Depeche Mode continues to thrill the crowds. Better still, Memento Mori revives some of the vibrations that have contributed so much to making their music so unique, between darkness and melancholy, there is a real sense of melody carried by Gahan’s voice that underlines the compositional work done with Gore. Depeche Mode is still alive.
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