Depeche Mode have shared a soulful new song called ‘In The End’.
The track, which you can listen to below, was recorded during sessions for their 2023 album ‘Memento Mori‘ and will feature on the physical release of their new Depeche Mode: M feature film.
Much like the bulk of the album, this chiming melodic song is pre-occupied with death as frontman Dave Gahan sings: “You know we’re going nowhere / We’re all nothing in the end / We’re weightless, floating endlessly / We’ll be dust again in the end.”
M follows on from Anton Corbijn’s 2019 live film Spirits In The Forest, and received a rapturous reception at this year’s Tribeca Festival. It is currently screening in over 2,500 cinemas across more than 60 countries.
The film gives fans the opportunity to see Gahan and Martin Gore on their journey “into the heart of Mexican culture’s relationship with death, framed by the iconic live performances”.
Conceived and directed by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Fernando Frias, M comprises footage from the band’s three sold-out shows at the Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico City – held as part of their 2023 and 2024 stadium tour, in support of their acclaimed album ‘Memento Mori’ (their first release since the passing of bandmate Andy Fletcher).
Speaking about his passing, Gahan previously told NME: “Fletch was probably… let’s just say, the least of all of us in terms of excesses. That was always the knowing joke – that Fletch was going to outlive all of us. ‘He’s still here, isn’t he?’ Now he’s not, and it still doesn’t feel real.”
Despite its preoccupations with life and death, the songs for their album were written before they lost their friend, with the first starting before the pandemic. “It was a pretty scary time,” recalled Gore at the time. “Watching the daily figures rise staggeringly just brought death to the forefront. Then in 2021, I hit 60. That was a really big slap in the face for me because my step-dad, who had been there and raised me, died at 61. My biological father died at 68.”
NME awarded the record four stars and said: “To have an album of this quality after what the band have been through may seem miraculous, but Depeche Mode have always turned turmoil, tension and life’s darker moments into magic. ‘Memento Mori’ is comfortably their best album this side of the millennium, and, most importantly, a testament to creativity and friendship. The music world is richer for it.”
Meanwhile, Gahan recently gave an update on Mode’s future plans stating that starting up the machine again isn’t at the top of the list just yet.
He told NME at the time: “Martin and I have talked. We actually saw each other recently, and it was really nice. We spent some time in Italy where [photographer and visual collaborator] Anton Cobijn and his wife were renewing their wedding vows.”
“I actually did ask Martin if he’d been writing and he was like, ‘Nah!’ That’s normal – especially when you’ve worked intensely for a couple of years. It takes a while. Wait and see. I wouldn’t rule out getting together at some point, but it’s not on the cards at this point.”
The physical release of M, which also includes a new live album, ‘Memento Mori: Mexico City’, is out on Friday December 5 on two DVDs, Blu-rays or two CDs.
English (US) · 