Depeche Mode – Sounds Of The Universe
Meditation.
It’s all about meditation.
The trick is to get into that perfect state of mind and consciousness that allows you to perceive yourself, the world internal, and the world external in the most natural, supernatural and true way possible. The big part of getting into that state of mind is creating the right atmosphere. Peaceful silence of the lake, mesmerizing beauty of the rain, enchanting sounds of the whispering forest… music.
It’s all about…
We’re in trance. There’s a loud beep. The clock starts at 30 seconds, counting backwards. 25 seconds – all systems are go. 10 seconds – the shuttle’s engines come to life. 5 seconds – release the hands. 4 – engines on full. 3 – the roar increases. 2 – harder to breathe. 1 – the takeoff.
In chains, we’re pressed into our seats. The roar of the engines is deafening. We’re exiting Earth’s atmosphere. One minute stretches out into infinity and you loose yourself. Inhale. Exhale. Silence. We’re in space.
It’s all about meditation.
We’re listening to Sounds Of The Universe and the opening track “In Chains”. It’s been a while since I listened to Depeche Mode, and when I say a while I mean almost never… About three months ago I was burning gas, driving around the city, listening to radio. My mind was on “D” (as in “Drive”), so I wasn’t really paying attention to what was on air. Then “Wrong” came on.
Have you ever experienced love at the first sight? Well I have. Love at the first listen. “Wrong” was perfect. It was magical, mesmerizing, moving, sincere and incredibly beautiful. I’ve been infected. I couldn’t stop playing that song over and over again in my head. I wanted more. I was obsessed.
Sounds Of The Universe came out on 21st of April and received generally positive reviews. As it usually happens – some people liked it, some didn’t. I was never a big fan of Depeche Mode, but I really do love some of their songs (“Personal Jesus” being my personal favourite) so in my personal opinion – this album really is a great one. There’re some songs that I like more than others and the first half of the record (all the way up to “In Sympathy”) is fucking amazing, while the rest is just good. You can’t help but feel that that’s what Universe must sound like…
This album feels… just… right. It’s whole, thought through. This album is a metaphor to something bigger than what it displays at the first glance. Songs like “Jezabel”, “In Chains”, “Hole To Feed”, “Wrong”, “Little Soul”, “Corrupt” move your mind, soul and world.
It’s all about meditation…
Those of us who do meditate have their own techniques. Some go into altered states of mind by altering them with various substances. Some need complete silence. Some listen to music.
Our last minute in space is filled with sounds of the universe. Our shuttle will never go back. There’s not a single thing that we miss. It was all wrong. We just keep spinning around our axis, moving through space towards our uncertain future. We’re not alone…
Tags: album
I feel that depeche mode is like wine, they get better with time. Their older albums haven’t amazed me, apart from some classics like “Personal Jesus” or “Suffer Well”. This album is truly quite a thing. Their synths really make you travel through the Universe.