The British synthpop originator Vince Clarke has a long and distinguished history. Clarke was one of the founding members of Depeche Mode. He produced their 1981 debut album Speak & Spell, and he served as the band’s primary songwriter, penning absolute bangers like “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “Dreaming Of Me.” But Clarke left Depeche Mode almost immediately afterwards. He teamed up with Alison Moyet to form the duo Yaz, who made one bulletproof classic album before breaking up. Ever since 1985, Clarke has been one half of Erasure, who are still active. (They released their 19th album last year.) But now the 63-year-old Vince Clarke is getting ready to release his first-ever solo LP.

Vince Clarke started work on his album Songs Of Silence during lockdown, when he was messing around with the modular synth Eurorack. When he wrote songs for the album, Clarke decided that he would only use Eurorack and that each track would stay within a single key. In a press release, Clarke says, “The infinite shades of sounds you can create with just the tiniest tweak of a knob or slider continues to fascinate me.”

Lead single “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah,” is entirely instrumental, and it mostly consists of ominous drones and mournful, scraping violin sounds. Most of the sounds don’t suggest synths, and none of it sounds like pop. Below, check out director Ebru Yildiz’s stark black-and-white video for “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah,” as well as the Songs Of Silence tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Cathedral”
02 “White Rabbit”
03 “Passage”
04 “Imminent”
05 “Red Planet”
06 “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah”
07 “Mitosis”
08 “Blackleg”
09 “Scarper”
10 “Last Transmission”

Songs Of Silence is out 11/17 on Mute.