Vince Clarke
★★★★
Songs Of Silence
MUTE. CD/DL/LP
Synth-pop lifer steps into solo limelight.
WITH A CV that includes Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure, Vince Clarke has spent more than 40 productive years operating as serial collaborator rather than electronic lone wolf. Songs Of Silence sees him finally diverting onto a more solitar y path, its suite of dankly atmospheric tracks composed alone on modular synth system Eurorack. There’s a dream-logic momentum, the mood often paranoid and propulsive. The heavy-breathing White Rabbit and Scarper come with a prickle of John Carpenter menace, while Last Transmission or Imminent are hyper-vigilant Tangerine Dream. There are times when a less obviously doctored emotion bleeds through, though: the cello-driven The Lamentations Of Jeremiah, Caroline Joy Clarke’s operatic vocals on Passage, or Blackleg, the eerie repurposing of a raging political folk song. It’s yet another side of Vince Clarke – sound and mood manipulated by a master.