Depeche Mode share promising new single ‘Ghosts Again’
Essex synth pioneers Depeche Mode have made a triumphant return with ‘Ghosts Again’, the lead single previewing their forthcoming album, Momento Mori. The new track is accompanied by details of their first full record since 2017’s Spirit.
Memento Mori, the dark-synth legends’ 15th studio album, has now been scheduled for release on March 24th, 2023. As a first preview, ‘Ghosts Again’ ties into the precedent laid out by the album’s name, which translates to ‘remember you must die’. The single arrives with a fitting monochrome music video directed by the band’s longtime visual collaborator Anton Corbijn.
“To me, ‘Ghosts Again’ just captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy,” frontman Dave Gahan said of the single. Fellow founding member Martin Gore added: “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to – I’m excited to be able to share it.”
In keeping with Depeche Mode’s latter career shift to darker themes, Gahan intones: “Wasted feelings, broken meanings… a place to hide the tears we cry”. Throughout the track, Gore’s compositional virtuosity holds strong as ever as he accompanies Gahan on the insightful lyrics. ‘Ghosts Again’ sets the tone for what could be yet another brilliant Depeche Mode album.
The song confronts the possibility of an afterlife, but despite these rife references to mortality, the album was mostly conceived prior to the tragic loss of founding keyboardist Andy Fletcher last May. However, in an interview with NME, Gahan revealed that Fletcher never recorded any material for the record.
“He never got to hear any of it, which is really sad to me because there are songs on this record where I know he’d be like, ‘This is the best thing we’ve had in years.’ I can hear his voice,” he said. “I can also hear him saying, ‘Does every song have to be about death?!'”
Check out ‘Ghosts Again’ and the full Momento Mori tracklist below.
Memento Mori tracklist:
- ‘My Cosmos Is Mine’
- ‘Wagging Tongue’
- ‘Ghosts Again’
- ‘Don’t Say You Love Me’
- ‘My Favourite Stranger’
- ‘Soul With Me’
- ‘Caroline’s Monkey’
- ‘Before We Drown’
- ‘People Are Good’
- ‘Always You’
- ‘Never Let Me Go’
- ‘Speak To Me’
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