Acclaimed songwriter and synth-pop icon Vince Clarke, whose various musical ventures include spells with Depeche Mode and Yazoo, as well as a prolific career as part of electronic duo Erasure, has announced his debut solo album. The instrumental LP, titled Songs Of Silence, spans ten tracks and is set to hit stores worldwide on November 17.

Conceived during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded at his home studio in New York, initial sessions for the solo project offered Clarke an opportunity to experiment with different textures and explore the more abstract, ambient aspects of electronic music.

As evidenced in his newly released lead single – “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah” - Clarke’s latest studio effort sees him tackle the Eurorack – a modular synthesiser format known for its limitless configurations. The first taster of what looks set to be a particularly somber record features composer Reed Hays performing a haunting cello line over ominous Eurorack-generated synth drones. 

Watch the official video for “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah”, directed by Ebru Yıldız, below:

“When I first heard the song, I felt like it contained a whole lifetime within itself,” says Ebru, whose pensive, black-and-white shots of Clarke in an old house portray a brooding musician in various states of contemplation. “All of the drama and peace, anxiousness and calmness, tension and hope, and everything in between. I wanted the visuals to feel like all those extremes as well.”

For the writing process of the album, Clarke followed two rules: firstly, each song would be composed using the Eurorack, and secondly, each track would stay within a single key, with one note pervading throughout. Adhering to these limitations helped the “Just Can’t Get Enough” hitmaker tap into a creative flow that eventually blossomed into a fully-fledged album.

“I could have gone on forever, I could have not stopped,” Clarke said of his creative process in a press statement. “I was enjoying the process so much and wasn’t thinking about anyone else hearing it. But hearing it develop in my studio, in my head, learning new tricks — that’s been the best thing about this. I was in a state of shock, actually, when Mute said they wanted to release this album.”

Songs Of Silence is out November 17 on Mute and available for pre-order here.