Vince Clarke teases solo album with lead single ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah’
Acclaimed songwriter Vince Clarke, known for his work for the likes of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure, has announced the imminent release of his debut solo album, Songs of Silence.
Coming November 17th, courtesy of Mute, the album will showcase Clarke’s explorations with the Eurorack – a modular synthesiser format that’s become famous for its infinite amount of settings and configurations.
Clarke, an Ivor Novello-winning songwriter who left Depeche Mode in 1981, has reportedly created an album considerably more experimental than his more radio-friendly, chart-topping releases. An official line on Songs of Silence describes the album as “a 10-track lyric-less album of uncategorisable ambient beauty”.
On his love for the Eurorack, Clarke explained that he “have gone on forever, I could have not stopped. I was enjoying the process so much and wasn’t thinking about anyone else hearing it”.
“But hearing it develop in my studio, in my head, learning new tricks,” he continued. “That’s been the best thing about this. I was in a state of shock, actually, when Mute said they wanted to release this album.” Recorded in his New York home studio, Songs of Silence began as a creative antidote to the Covid pandemic and lockdowns.
For the writing process, Clarke followed two rules: that each sound would be generated solely by the Eurorack and that each song would focus on one musical note and stick to a single key throughout. “The resultant album’s mood of synth-generated, cosmic remoteness is interrupted by stark interventions, reminders of the human hand at work amid this machinery,” says the press release.
“Clarke manifests relentless sequencer patterns, gradual accelerations, Moog-style drones, glistening droplets of synth, and burgeoning swells of processed guitars.”
Listen to the lead single, ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah’, below.
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