Depeche Mode, Spirit

★★☆☆☆

Download this: You Move; So Much Love; Cover Me

On Spirit, Depeche Mode get serious and political, which doesn’t really suit them. They’re fine on romance and pervy urges and dark nights of the soul, but hearing Dave Gahan on “Poorman” attacking big corporations for the failure of the trickle-down economy just seems crass and absurd. Likewise, the sub-Devo critique of “Going Backwards” (“we have not evolved, we have no respect, we have lost control”) confronts mankind’s loss of soul without the salvaging wit of “Are We Not Men?”. They fare better with the simple desire and dance of “You Move” and “So Much Love”, driven by a pounding Suicide-style synth-motor pulse; and the chilly Northern Lights tableau “Cover Me” pleasingly recalls Yello’s widescreen soundscapes. But elsewhere, the ticking beats and dark synth washes of “Where’s The Revolution” are wasted on a track stating the bleeding obvious about truth and lies; while the brittle electro antipathy of “Poison Heart” and “Scum” just seems plain nasty.

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