- On his debut solo album, the British synth pop legend (and Depeche Mode cofounder) turns his hand to gloomy ambient.
- Though he avoids the spotlight, Vince Clarke is one of synth pop's great heroes. He pioneered the genre as a cofounder of both Depeche Mode and Yazoo, before giving it a lasting foothold as one half of Erasure. News of his debut solo album Songs Of Silence was unexpected after four decades as a less exposed member of his various projects—he's usually seen hunched over synths behind limelight-stealing performers like Dave Gahan, Alison Moyet or Andy Bell. The real shock, however, is the record itself. Our first clear look at the writer behind "Just Can't Get Enough," "Only You" and "A Little Respect" takes the form of a dark, brooding drone album. There's a possible breadcrumb trail to this shift if you look carefully enough, from his remixes for darker projects like Liars and A Place To Bury Strangers to Erasure's warped, deconstructed album Day-Glo (Based On A True Story). But surprise or not, Clarke's bold and absorbing take on dark ambient music makes for a compelling debut.
On Songs Of Silence—as suggested by titles like "Cathedral" and "Red Planet"—Clarke creates a sense of being dwarfed by something monumental. Basing each track on one sustained note and using the same modular synth for all electronic sounds, his ominous ambient pieces recall the towering monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Space and science fiction are clear influences on his nebulous arrangements and sound design: the high-pitched ticking in "Last Transmission" suggests text rattling across a spaceship's computer, while the soft thuds in "Red Planet" evoke an astronaut bounding across the Martian surface. Returning to these subjects and writing principles, Clarke sustains a mood somewhere between unease and awe.
While the short track lengths are a reminder of Clarke's pop background, his first step into ambient music feels assured (and much stronger than his foray into techno with Martin Gore as VCMG). The approach recalls Deathprod's Morals And Dogma, achieving its brooding, imposing character though weighty drone layers rather than overtly harsh sounds. The album's focus on a single modular synth, meanwhile, invites comparisons with very early ambient pieces like Pauline Oliveros' Alien Bog. While Clarke is more restrained, there's the same palpable curiosity as new sounds are teased from the instrument. Songs Of Silence arrives in a year of great dark ambient records, including Hilary Woods' wonderfully dramatic Acts Of Light, but holds its own with a coherent and convincing voice.
The album's most exciting pieces are where Clarke gives the lead to non-electronic elements. "The Lamentations Of Jeremiah" combines Clarke's droning synths with an expressive cello performance by Reed Hays, whose harshly bowed phrases waver between agitation and sadness. "Passage" nods to opera with a performance by soprano Caroline Joy, while "Scarper" features finger-picked folk guitar. Folk also makes its way into "Blackleg," which samples a rendition of "Blackleg Miner," a 19th-century folk song inciting violence against strikebreakers. In these tracks, where Clarke resumes his usual role of collaborator, Songs Of Silence fizzes with ideas and possible reinterpretations of itself.
Its weaker moments are where Clarke relies most purely on electronics. His choices at the brighter end of his palette sound dated, from the ethereal synths in "Mitosis" to the arpeggios in "White Rabbit." But his use of fleeting, fragmentary samples redeems these cheesier moments. Amid the churning drone of "Imminent," we catch flashes of a strange chiming sound, like an electric guitar being plucked behind the nut, while "White Rabbit" briefly moves us into a dance setting with a distorted drum pattern. Lurching suddenly into view, these sounds generate some of the same impulsive, exploratory character delivered by Clarke's live performers.
The contrast between these pieces give Songs Of Silence a curious, shape-shifting quality. This makes for a compelling listening experience, but also contributes to a sense that the album lacks focus. Clarke gestures towards grand subjects from religion, fantasy, history and outer space, but doesn't pursue them fully enough to illuminate his outlook or convictions on them. While Songs Of Silence succeeds as a rich and intriguing drone album then, it won't satisfy those hoping to learn more about one of British pop's great enigmas.
Tracklist01. Cathedral
02. White Rabbit
03. Passage
04. Imminent
05. Red Planet
06. The Lamentations Of Jeremiah
07. Mitosis
08. Blackleg
09. Scarper
10. Last Transmission