In the Studio: Depeche Mode Go "Spiritual"

Before Depeche Mode began recording their new album, the group's guitarist and chief songwriter, Martin Gore, went out and bought a bunch of vintage gear. "It's helped to shape the sound of the album," says Gore. "The sounds we are making are more akin to stuff we did in the late 1980s, around Violator. That was a real creative high for us." The group has been recording off and on for nine months in New York and in a studio near Gore's Santa Barbara, California, home. On its last release, 2005's Playing the Angel, singer Dave Gahan contributed songs for the first time in Depeche Mode's 25-year career. So far, he's given four new songs to this currently untitled set. "I think it's natural," says Gore — who was the group's sole songwriter for most of its career. Gore says it's too early to discuss specific tracks, but he says the album has a strong "spiritual feel."

[From Issue 1066 — November 27, 2008]

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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