New music from Depeche Mode isn’t so much a release as it is an event. The brand new single “Heaven” has just surfaced online only a week after the band announced details of a new album.
Opening with a soul driven “Feeling Good” meets Portishead style piano chord progression, it takes only seconds for “Heaven” to grab hold. Dave Gahan croons like only he can and immediately the first introduction to Depeche Mode 2013 is a soulful one. As we’ve come to expect from Depeche Mode, the new single is coloured with dark tones and exhibits a sombre quality.
Those looking for the exhilaration and dark electro-synth sonics of the band’s ‘Ultra‘ and ‘Violator‘ albums won’t find the same thrills here. Though no doubt a masterclass in songwriting “Heaven” is more a slow burner than a roaring triumphant return.
With reference to the band’s back catalogue, “Heaven” is a cross between the gospel “Condemnation” from the band’s classic ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion‘ album and the band’s more recent records, namely ‘Exciter‘ and ‘Sounds of the Universe‘. More accurately though, “Heaven” actually has parallels to the brilliant Soulsavers album of last year, ‘The Light The Dead See‘ (read our review), which Dave Gahan of course collaborated on.
As we eagerly await more, the single “Heaven” is out 1 February 2013 with the band’s thirteenth studio album ‘Delta Machine’ due out on 26 March, 2013.