Hard to believe, but in 1981 many observers dismissed
Depeche Mode when Vince Clarke, who wrote its first big hit,
“Just Can’t Get Enough,” left the band. Of course, Depeche
not only soldiered on but became a global phenomenon.
Surely one reason for the band’s success is that it took
the approach opposite to that taken by Clarke:
While he went on to repeat his initial formula
ad infinitum with Yazoo and Erasure, Depeche
evolved into a creative force, rarely repeating
itself musically, constantly incorporating
new technology and always staying on the
vanguard of production styles. This fall
Depeche released a new album, Playing
the Angel (Sire/Reprise), that shows the
band has yet to ossify. The LP is influenced
by laptop electronica in the mold of Four Tet or Boards
of Canada, and the only retro elements are things currently
trendy in indie circles: papery 808-style drums from
late-1980s acid house and crystalline New Order–
style guitars. Though the band members never seem
to tout their adventurousness (for contrast, think of
the self- congratulatory PR blitz when U2 finally broke
out of a decade of stasis for Achtung Baby), their
accomplishments stand in contrast to many other
1980s survivors—such as Echo & the Bunnymen,
who also released an album, Siberia (Cooking
Vinyl), this fall. To be fair, Siberia is one of the
best Echo albums ever, but 21 years on, it
hews closely to the blueprint of Ocean Rain,
the band’s 1984 masterpiece.

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