The Desire Causes Pain

Depeche Mode “So Much Love”

It is fun to think about how at one point in their career Depeche Mode could be dismissed as a faddish thing for teenagers. They were so far ahead of the curve of mainstream music culture that even their corniest early stuff now sounds like it could be contemporary, if sorta deliberately retro ‘80s. The band essentially found its final form in the early ‘90s and have been in something of a creative holding pattern ever since – some elements shift, the technology advances, but a Depeche Mode record sounds like Depeche Mode. And this time around, Depeche Mode sounds very current.

It certainly helps that Spirit is largely a record about political anxieties and disillusionment, and the harsh electronic ambience of their default sound feels very right in this dreadful historical moment. Some of Martin Gore’s more obviously political lyrics come off a bit clumsy, but when he merges a defiant socially conscious message with classic Depeche Mode themes of guilt, compulsion, and desire on a song like “So Much Love,” it’s rather compelling. I like the way this takes the self-involvement of their usual music and says to the audience “yeah, this is me, this is the damage I’m dealing with, but that doesn’t get in the way of feeling empathy and love for others. So what’s your excuse?”

Buy it from Amazon.