Sounds of the Universe
Where have all the New Wavers gone? Most of them have faded into oblivion but there are some who persist to exist, like Depeche Mode. I was in high school when the New Wave era invaded the airwaves, but I did not notice the invasion because I was very much into rock music– Black Sabbath, The Scorpions, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and some Pink Floyd. I never cared for anything else. It was only later, when I was in college, that I learned how to listen to bands like Depeche Mode. My first encounter with their music was with their Music For the Masses album. I liked the darkness in their music, but I somehow found their lyrics too ostentatious. I liked them anyway and cared to check out their other albums.
Now comes their twelfth full-length album, Sounds of the Universe. To keep me from wondering if they have changed their way of making music, I secured a copy of the album. The opening track “In Chains” immediately hooked my interest; the first few seconds of the song is full of promise because it is disorienting. You cannot tell what instrument is making the sound and what its creators were up to. But after that strange short intro I was back in the real world and saw that the Depeche Mode guys are just recycling things to come up with something that they hope would sound new. I continued to listen. “Hole to Feed” comes to me like an appeal to the masses, it begs to be loved. Its melody and words are easy to remember, but I am comfortable forgetting it. The third track, “Wrong”, is the saving grace of the album. It’s a gem and is destined to be a classic, it rocks, and what makes it fine is its roughness. The fourth track, “Fragile Tension”, is too slow for me. I guess I have to listen to it more in order to “feel” it. The 5th track, “Little Soul”, is another gem in the album. It has great sound effects, great arrangement. I could listen to it again and again.
The rest of the songs in the album are not worth the space here. After three decades of making music it’s natural to run out of ideas and end up scraping the buttom of the barrel. It happens to artists, even those who are as good as Depeche Mode.
