Memento Mori

The first Depeche Mode studio album recorded and released as a duo.

Memento Mori (stylised on cover as Memento| Mori) is the fifteenth studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 24 March 2023 through Columbia. The album was produced by James Ford, and marks their first album in six years since 2017's Spirit, the longest gap between the band's albums to date. It was preceded by the single "Ghosts Again" on 9 February and the track "My Cosmos Is Mine" on 9 March (released on streaming platforms) and is the first Depeche Mode studio album to be recorded and released as a duo, after the death of co-founder and keyboardist Andy Fletcher on 26 May 2022. The album was promoted by the Memento Mori World Tour.

Quick Facts

Artist

Depeche Mode

Released

24 March 2023

Recorded

July–October 2022

Studio

Electric Ladyboy (Santa Barbara); Shangri-La (Malibu)

Genre

Synth-pop
electronic rock
dark wave

Length

50:24

Label

Columbia

Producer

James Ford

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.

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.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	My Cosmos Is Mine	Martin L. Gore	5:18
2	Wagging Tongue	Gore, Dave Gahan	3:25
3	Ghosts Again	Gore, Richard Butler	3:58
4	Don't Say You Love Me	Gore, Butler	3:44
5	My Favourite Stranger	Gore, Butler	3:55
6	Soul with Me	Gore	4:15
7	Caroline's Monkey	Gore, Butler	4:17
8	Before We Drown	Gahan, Peter Gordeno, Christian Eigner	4:08
9	People Are Good	Gore	4:24
10	Always You	Gore	4:19
11	Never Let Me Go	Gore	4:04
12	Speak to Me	Gahan, Eigner, James Ford, Marta Salogni	4:37
Total length			50:24

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.
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.