The electronic music legend finally releases his first solo album

This legendary figure may be considered unattractive in appearance, short in stature, often standing far away, and low-key, but when he looks at his resume, most people will look at him with admiration. In his music career of more than 40 years, he has written more than 200 songs and many masterpieces, but not everyone knows him.

He is a founding member of Depeche Mode. He and his classmate Andy Fletcher formed Composition of Sound. He played almost all the instruments and even the lead vocals. Later, singer Dave Gahan and another piano player Martin L. Gore joined, and the name was finally changed to Depeche Mode. Clarke wrote most of the songs on the first album, Speak & Spell, including the first top ten single "Just Can't Get Enough". It was at the beginning that he chose to leave the band. There have been different reasons for this over the years. It was simply that he didn't like the sense of accomplishment and had to tour and visit. Others said that he and the band There are different musical directions that I want to pursue. He felt that he owed something to the band. At that time, he had a few new songs, and he planned to give the song "Only You" to Lechu, but they were willing to start over.

He found a female singer Alison Moyet and formed the duo Yazoo (just called Yaz in the United States and Canada). They still followed the electronic pop route. The song "Only You" became a signature song, and the other two singles were also quite popular. welcome. After two consecutive albums, the band announced its disbandment, or maybe he just wasn't sure of his direction.

He collaborated with other musicians and came up with the idea of ​​using different singers for each song, so he released the work under the name of the Assembly. The first single was "Never Never", which featured Feargal Sharkey as the vocalist (he later had a pop song "A Good Heart"). It performed very well and reached fifth place on the pop charts. After that, Clarke continued to work with different musicians, but with mixed results.

He paused for a while, then advertised for singers in the newspaper, and got Andy Bell to apply for the job. It turned out that he was already a fan of Clarke. Under the name Erasure, their first single "Who Needs Love Like That" was already a head start, and their first album "Wonderland" further established their sound and route. This duo started in 1986 and has published nineteen albums so far. Singer Bell disclosed his gay identity as early as the early 1990s. Using his unique style, he has been speaking out for the gay community intentionally or unintentionally. He has long been the darling of the gay circle, with songs such as "A Little Respect" and "Victim of Love" and so on are very popular. But I particularly like the song "Oh L'amour".

During this period, Andy Bell released no less than three solo albums, but Clarke just kept collaborating with different people. He likes to mix music and DJ. He works as a DJ in some nightclubs and is somewhat famous. At this time, with the help of the record company, Clarke and Moyet got back in touch. They did not make new music, but held a series of reunion concerts. Perhaps it was through re-experienced the music of the 1980s that Clarke knew where his heart belonged.

In 2011, when he was pursuing his own musical development, he remembered his former Depeche Mode teammate Martin L. Gore, so he contacted him to explore the possibility of collaborating on music. The result was a pure music album "Ssss" named VCMG (the abbreviation of the two names), which opened up his musical possibilities in other aspects.

By 2015, when French harpsichord geek Jean-Michel Jarre was preparing an album "Electronica 1: The Time Machine" with different musicians, he actually approached Clarke! Clarke himself recalled that he was really flattered at the time. The other party was a well-known French national treasure, and he never imagined that the other party would come to him. But because of my fascination with electronic music, we hit it off immediately after meeting. Like two dull people, they only talked about electronic music and ignored everything else! The song "Automatic" they collaborated on is divided into two parts, Part 1 and Part 2, on the album.

Since then, Clarke has been obsessed with all kinds of harpsichords and programs, old and new, and, as you can imagine, all the equipment in his home recording studio. Just in time for the global epidemic, everyone is working from home. Erasure continues to produce new works. After playing with various equipment, Clarke ignited a little creative enthusiasm, which is different from his usual electronic pop style. Finally, he simply made a Solo album titled "Songs of Silence".

This is also an album of pure music. The characteristic of the entire music is that it is produced by a Eurorack electronic equipment. This is a product of the 1990s, but because it can be connected to a variety of different accessories and programs, it is constantly changing. Despite the innovation, many electronic music enthusiasts still use it. The album is scheduled to be released in mid-November, but several pieces have already been released online. Among them, "The Lamentations of Jeremiah" interests me the most. It is completely different from his past style, but it is not overly experimental or difficult. Not too dark. As I get older, my horizons broaden, which makes me look forward to it very much.