Depeche Mode released a new single on Monday. Before We Drown is incredibly the 6th song to be lifted from 15th album Memento Mori since I posted Ghosts Again last March. Not bad for a 12-track album...
Memento Mori is another of those releases from 2023 that I've yet to buy or even listen to in full yet, but would likely have been raving about in my end of year posts had I done so. I haven't kept up with the single releases either but Before We Drown is a downtempo beauty with a video directed by - who else? - Anton Corbijn, who has worked with Depeche Mode for the best part of four decades now.
On Saturday, whilst I was having a whale of a time watching The Clientele at the Thekla in Bristol, my friend Mike was at the O2 Arena in London, experiencing Depeche Mode live in concert for the first time. As it happens, Before We Drown got it's live premiere on the very same night. Thanks to Luke Evans "Big Rig" Moments, we can relive those rather wonderful four minutes via You Tube.
I saw Depeche Mode for the first - and only - time at the Bristol Hippodrome in April 1986, on the Black Celebration tour. Suffice to say, Dave and Martin have come a heck of a long way since then. From the snippets I've seen, the O2 Arena concert looks and sounds incredible.
All Depeche Mode singles come with a plethora of remixes as standard, usually a mix of established names and up-and-coming artists. The Memento Mori releases to date have been no exception, with versions by ANNA, Boris Brechja, Daniel Avery, Decius, Ela Minus, Gabe Gurnsey, Hi-Lo, Long Island Sound, Luke Slater, Matthew Herbert, Miss Grit, Rival Consoles and Wet Leg.
Official remixes of Before We Drown haven't yet been released but inevitably Depeche Mode fans were on the case as soon as Memento Mori was released, extending, editing, remixing and reworking tracks on the album.
Here are four choice picks of Before We Drown for your listening pleasure.
It was indeed my first time watching DM. 'Before We Drown' felt like the best track off the new album on the night and it was weird seeing that in the backdrop then 48 hours it drops as the new video. Sad I missed the Clientele but had to get DM ticked off my list. I nearly went to the 86 gig you attended but I think it sold out pretty quick...I think my highlight of Sat night was the first time they had played 'Behind The Wheel' for ten years - great hearing that again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike, that set list was incredible.
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