(Paris) “It tells a story with which I identify”, exposes Dave Gahan: with Impose, a disc of distilled covers with his other group, Soulsavers, the leader of Depeche Mode delivers a moving intimate cartography.
But why this album title, Impose ? “I always thought that way, even before making music, as a teenager I was looking to be part of something, to be accepted”, tells AFP the musician, met in Paris on the occasion of a concert from Soulsavers to Pleyel.
The Englishman has also long felt like an impostor within Depeche Mode. During the first few years, he was content to interpret the songs of the group’s mastermind, Martin Gore. Over time, the singer ended up writing his own songs, to put them next to those of his sidekick.
“We all have this insecurity in us”, continues for AFP Rich Machin, architect of Soulsavers and producer of the album, sitting next to the singer in a Parisian palace.
“We all say to ourselves at one point ‘I shouldn’t be here, I don’t deserve it”, like when I happened to play with incredible musicians, ”continues the multi-instrumentalist, black jeans and white cowboy boots.
Bumpy course
The two men mingle for Impose standards – Neil Young or Nina Simone – and nuggets of lesser-known artists like Cat Power or Mark Lanegan.
The album unfolds a beautiful twilight narration, mirror of the life of Dave Gahan, his dented career, his past addictions and the serenity displayed as he will celebrate his 60 years in 2022.
The cover presents a silhouette that advances in a corridor, the light in its back and the half-light in front. An in-between that refers to The Dark End of the Street, popularized by Aretha Franklin.
“It’s about someone who is not satisfied with where he is, it’s a part of me, I have a dependent personality, but I work hard to live the present, where I am”, analyzes Dave Gahan, who quit drugs and alcohol several years ago.
A title like Shut me down, by Rowland S. Howard (Birthday Party guitarist, Nick Cave’s first line-up), talks about the loved ones he may have hurt in his former life of excess.
SCREENSHOT
The cover ofImpose presents a silhouette which advances in a corridor, the light in its back and the half-light in front.
“This record came, as often, by accident, but once finished, a lot of things are revealed: you have to take risks if you want to change”, he asserts, all in elegance in a black suit. “Changing these behaviors that you believe are solutions – drugs, alcohol, romantic relationships – which are only temporary”, continues the singer.
“I realize that music has been the only constant in my life. “
Selected family
The album ends with clearing, with Always On My Mind who was played by Elvis Presley. Sign that Dave Gahan has ended up finding a balance in his sentimental and family life.
The Soulsavers, an ensemble of ten musicians, are another chosen family. You have to see Dave Gahan and Rich Machin talking with stars in their eyes from the recording of the disc in the Shangri-La studio in Malibu.
“The most important thing I’ve learned in my 40-year career is knowing how to capture the moment in the studio. And that’s what happened, ”recalls Dave Gahan. “Every day I pinched myself to believe it, I said to myself in the morning ‘is it going to evaporate, is it today that it will go badly?”, But no “.
The choice of the studio is not trivial. It is the property of Rick Rubin, wizard of mixing consoles who had supervised American Recordings, collection-reference of covers by Johnny Cash.
The man in black had notably reinterpreted Personal Jesus, title of Depeche Mode. This time, it’s Dave Gahan’s turn to slip into other people’s shoes, in a tailor-made crooner costume.