Depeche Mode, Ghosts Again | Track Review 🎵

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**Following the loss of Fletch, Depeche Mode makes a stellar return in 2023 with “Ghost Again,” the promo single from their first LP in six years (Memento Mori).**

It has been six years since veteran English electronic-driven band 🎙 Depeche Mode released a new album. Of course, extended hiatuses between albums by 🎙 Dave Gahan and company have been commonplace through the band’s career. Still, the arrival of 💿 Memento Mori (March 24, 2023) marks the collective’s longest span between LPs (💿 Spirit arrived in March 2017). Sadly, in 2022, longtime keyboardist 🎙 Andy “Fletch” Fletcher passed away – a huge loss for the band. 🎵 “Ghosts Again”, written by 🎼 ✍ Martin Gore and Richard Butler, and slickly produced by 🎛 James Ford, arrives as the promo single from Memento Mori. By the way, memento mori in Latin means remember you must die. Yikes!

“Wasted feelings / Broken meanings / Time is fleeting / See what it brings.” Hmm, given the title of the album, the loss of Fletch, and the title of the song, “Ghosts Again” seems to fit the bill. The second verse sung by the always marvelous-sounding Gahan, projects a similar sentiment: “Sundays shining / Silver linings / Weightless hours / All my flowers.” One of the key lines, which appears on a variable chorus, finds Gahan (and Gore on backing vocals) singing the titular lyrics, “We know we’ll be ghosts again.” Perhaps Gahan describes the song best to Clash Magazine, asserting it “captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy.” The lyrics do indeed lie somewhere between life and death, while the music is set in a major key, and remains true to the band’s signature sound. There are guitars, keys, and synths – a clear throwback to the 1980s without sounding anachronistic.

Final Thoughts 💭

seal of approval All told, Depeche Mode makes a triumphant return with 🎵 “Ghosts Again”. Just as Gahan suggests, there is a great balance between joy and melancholy. As always, Dave sounds amazing. Musically, “Ghosts Again” serves up ample ear candy, top-notch musicianship. Furthermore, the lyrics are compelling, perfectly capturing two varying emotions.

🎙 Depeche Mode • 💿 Memento Mori • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 3.24.23

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Columbia; OpenClipart-Vectors, PIRO via Pixabay]

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the musical hype aka Brent Faulkner has earned Bachelor and Masters degrees in music (music Education, music theory/composition respectively). A multi-instrumentalist, he plays piano, trombone, and organ among numerous other instruments. He's a certified music educator, composer, and a freelance music journalist. Faulkner cites music and writing as two of the most important parts of his life. Notably, he's blessed with a great ear, possessing perfect pitch.

4 Comments

Jeremy · February 18, 2023 at 8:20 pm

I wasn’t sure what to expect but DM always seems to find a way to reinvent themselves regardless of popular trends. Even when they’ve indicated specific influences taken from Delta Blues, they’ve stayed within their lanes pure to their own, unique sound palettes. Their music is honest and sincere, provocative at times and often delicately personal. Furthermore, DM always seems to been in tune with what’s going on in the world and have been a sort of beacon voice with what the rest of us are yearning to express ourselves.

The first time I heard their music was in 1984 at an underage club. The music video, People Are People was being played on monitors surrounding the dance floor and I just stood their observing the Industrial motif and asking myself, what the hell are they using to produce those sounds? That same year (or maybe it was spring of 85), I saw them at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois for their Some Great Reward tour. Ironically, I found out later in life, this was also the venue that grandparents on both sides of my family had gone to dance and listen to the big bands of 1940’s era. Anyways, with DM, I had already purchased the album from mowing lawns, A Broken Frame but had not yet possessed, Some Great Reward. I was confused. I had no idea at 14-15 years of age where they were at sonically until I saw them perform. After that, I sorted it all out and have been a fan ever since. To this day, I can remember the fever they bestowed upon me from the first experience seeing them live. I can remember seeing this bizarre looking keyboard called an Emulator where some of the the sounds were coming from and I wanted one, really really bad. LOL! Nowadays, I enjoy a lot of other artists but there hasn’t been a band that had quite the initial impact on me as Depeche Mode did in my youth. Bravo! I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

Michael Delozier · February 18, 2023 at 10:21 pm

I thought it was a very unmemorable song that didn’t do anything for me at all.
Depeche mode just keeps getting more boring as the years go on. This proves that. I don’t need to write 20 paragraphs for one song that wasn’t even mediocre.

P A Benson · February 19, 2023 at 9:50 am

Great song . The more I’ve played it the more i like it looking forward to the new album and of course the tour.
, There’s a reason depeche mode have been going for over 40 years .probably one of the most underrated band ever.

Awesome Songs: February 2023 | Playlist 🎧 · February 27, 2023 at 12:01 am

[…] Andy “Fletch” Fletcher passed away – a huge loss for the band. The awesome song at hand, 🎵 “Ghosts Again”, was written by 🎼 ✍ Martin Gore and Richard Butler, and slickly produced by 🎛 James […]

Depeche Mode, Ghosts Again | Track Review 🎵

Published by the musical hype on February 13, 2023February 13, 2023

**Following the loss of Fletch, Depeche Mode makes a stellar return in 2023 with “Ghost Again,” the promo single from their first LP in six years (Memento Mori).**

Final Thoughts 💭

🎙 Depeche Mode • 💿 Memento Mori • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 3.24.23

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Columbia; OpenClipart-Vectors, PIRO via Pixabay]

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