By: Si Forster
Dave Gahan and Soulsavers | facebook | twitter |
Released on October 23, 2015 via Columbia
Cinematic is usually the buzzword surrounding the work of the Soulsavers, and anyone uttering it would generally have a point – the noirish pulp buzz of Tough Guys Don’t Dance, the Wim Wenders roadtrip of It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land and the spacious drama of Broken all paint their imagery large and bold on the listeners’ imaginary screens. When working with Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan on 2012’s the Light The Dead See, their focus shifted inwards to something lyrically altogether more personal while pushing the means of delivering their music further outwards. Angels and Ghosts continues that exploration of their current vocalist’s psyche, following almost directly onwards from the Light the Dead See’s upward lift of ‘Tonight’ into more ascendant territory.
For this new venture all the stops are pulled out as everything that has worked so well for the Soulsavers is revisited and pushed forward, a succession of legendary studios providing their unique atmospheres and spirits has been utilised, along with many returning bandmates to keep the project intimate. It’s this pushing outwards and pulling together that makes this particular endeavour so complete. Curiously, this also extends to the very naming of this project; as although Gahan’s name moved to outside of the Soulsavers’ core identity, he feels much more intrinsic to Angels and Ghosts’ sound than he did before.
Dave seems to have a much better sense of what he wants from this collaboration than the last one as Angels and Ghosts is much more of a meeting of minds, and this rising to the task is more than ably met by the Soulsavers’ use of orchestration and mood, and a backing vocal contribution that is simply breathtaking to listen to throughout that brings light to every corner of each song and provides the tipping point to already weighty emotional tones. There is a great deal of understatement here with regard to contribution (indeed, neither actual Soulsaver – Messrs Rich Machin and Ian Glover – are mentioned at all in the credits), but it’s undeniable that everyone involved has made a pretty strong contribution to all that goes on here.
The album is bookended by the two brightest songs – opener ‘Shine’ is Gahan’s ‘Revival’, gospel fed through stomping blues and a heavenly choir that is a joy beheld by the collective consciousness of any listener within earshot; while closer ‘My Sun’’s lullaby chorus of “Behind the darkest clouds the Sun always shines again” brings a cheerful, peaceful end. Between these highpoints are the sort of shades that one would perhaps expect from a Soulsavers record, but these songs are more about celebration than introspection. Even when Dave is at his most serpentine during the verses of ‘Don’t Cry’, he dispels this character with the choruses in a manner that suggests (along with the arresting cover imagery) that although whatever demons reside within him still, they are well under control and can be summoned and pushed back at will.
Lyrically, there is a marked progression between the two albums and Gahan’s words have shifted slightly from The Light The Dead See’s directness to something a little more poetic and opaque which fits well with the overall tone, and even when the mood darkens occasionally as with Lately’s description of a setback the mood is positive throughout to ensure that his is the Soulsavers’s lightest record to date without their having to alter the way that they go about things.
The dark remains the best place to be listening in to their music, but Angels and Ghosts is a record that is best placed firmly at the bit before the dawn. Rich Machin said in a recent interview that he was looking at pressing the “reset button” on the Soulsaver’s journey full circle (a circle that will be home to the orchestral and – of course! – cinematic Kubrick in just a few weeks’ time), and after shifting from Hesperus to Phosphorus over the course of five albums, I can see why this would be the case. Angels and Ghosts is a sublime evolution from both sides of this collaboration, and if this is also a conclusion it’s a fitting and jubilant one.
