Twenty years later (yikes!), guess what? The two main guys from both bands* team up and make one of the best records of 2012. VCMG (that's Vince Clarke and Martin Gore) don't exactly reject their past, but this is electronic music that's pretty far afield of their current volume of work. For one thing, there are no vocals, and therefore no gloomy meditations of lust (DM) or dancing (E). There could be dancing, I suppose, since the beats are much more club oriented than latter-day DM drudgery, but only in the right kind of gothy Batcave club.
Sometimes, you'll hear the perky sequencers of an Erasure dancefloor anthem or some of the signature gloomy tones of Depeche Mode, but only in secondary roles. This is a completely different animal. Supposedly composed and recorded completely in isolation from one another, this is a very collaborative (and even playful) sounding record.
Spock and Single Blip are standouts to me, both anthemic, but I think they'd be ruined if turned into "real" songs with their most likely lyrics and vocals. (Sorry, Dave Gahan and Andy Bell.) Lowly puts me in mind both of a BBC World News intro bumper and Public Image's Radio 4 with a jacked up beat. Speaking of soundtracks, the most inspired bits of Ssss put me in the mind of Barry Adamson and his scores for imaginary films. Despite the bangin' beats, you might be surprised by putting on headphones and closing your eyes to conjure up your own chase scenes.
* I'm well aware that Vince Clarke founded Depeche Mode, but his stay was so short, saying that he was a driving force behind their signature sound is like The Wall was all Syd Barrett. But yes, Clarke and Gore have worked together before.
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