Memento Mori

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Lore & Background

The album's themes were directly inspired by the pandemic, with Martin Gore thinking about his own mortality and the COVID-19 pandemic killing hundreds of thousands worldwide while he was writing. After Andy Fletcher's sudden death from an aortic dissection on 26 May 2022, Gore and Dave Gahan decided to continue, believing it was what Fletcher would have wanted. Gore said the loss cemented the idea that they had to carry on with these songs and the title: "The idea that we should all be making the most of our time on Earth and it's very limited—it's kind of an important message. And it's even more important now Andy's gone." The recording sessions were smooth and productive, unlike the Spirit sessions which were reportedly filled with hostility. Producer James Ford was surprised the band wanted to work with him again, stating "at the end of the process and I was like: 'Ah, that's it, I probably will not work with them again'. So I was really surprised when they asked me the second time, honestly." When narrowing down 20 tracks to the final album, the five of them did a secret ballot of everybody's favourite tracks. Mixer Marta Salogni felt it was "wonderful" to witness Gore and Gahan's flourishing friendship, noting "With Andy being a filter—after he passed, the filter unfortunately disappeared, and suddenly the curtain dropped and they were there to face each other." She received a writing credit on "Speak to Me" after she and James Ford locked themselves in the studio, remade Dave's demo, changed key and tempo, and built the arrangement back up from the vocals using the EMS Synthi A.

In Their Own Story

The rain fell in sheets against the neon-lit window of the abandoned control room, washing away the dust of decades. Martin sat before the console, his fingers hovering over keys that had not been touched in years. The hum of the synthesizer was the only sound, a low, mournful drone that seemed to vibrate through the floorboards. He pressed play, and the first chord swelled, filling the empty space with a ghostly warmth. It was time to remember what it meant to be alive before the silence took everything again.

Reader's Guide

In the broader timeline of Depeche Mode's career, Memento Mori serves as a bridge between their earlier industrial experiments and their more recent melodic explorations. It stands as a definitive statement on mortality, proving that even after forty years, the band can still surprise and move their audience with profound artistic vision.

Did You Know?

• Andy Fletcher died suddenly of an aortic dissection on 26 May 2022, and although songwriting and demo work on the album began before his death, he did not record nor hear any material for the album.
• Martin Gore co-wrote four songs with Richard Butler (of The Psychedelic Furs) after Butler reached out in April 2020; Gore said the songs were too good to be a side project, so Depeche Mode put them on the album.
• When narrowing down 20 tracks to the final album, the five people involved did a secret ballot of everybody's favourite tracks to decide the track listing.
• Mixer Marta Salogni received a writing credit on "Speak to Me" after she and James Ford locked themselves in the studio, changed the key and tempo, and rebuilt the arrangement from the vocals using an EMS Synthi A.
• An unreleased song from the Memento Mori sessions titled "Life 2.0" was confirmed by Martin Gore on the SmartLess Apple Podcast on 25 May 2023 to be released later that year.