(Mute/EMI)

More than two decades into their career, Depeche Mode have emerged alongside U2 as perhaps the most successfully (and continuingly stadium-filling) act to emerge amongst the wave of ‘huge’ acts active throughout the eighties and nineties, with their most recent 13th artist album ‘Playing The Angel’ being met with an extremely favourable response by both critics and longtime fans upon its release late last year. With the Mark ‘LFO’ Bell-assisted minimal electronic soul explorations of its 2001 predecessor ‘Exciter’ replaced by a marked return to analogue synths and melodic hooks blended with the trio’s trademark brooding lyrical content (heck, the record was even subtitled ‘Pain And Suffering In Various Tempos’), ‘Playing The Angel’ had many listeners suggesting that the Mode had now returned to the sort of sound displayed most clearly on some of their most successful albums to date, ‘Black Celebration’ and ‘Violator.’

This second single to be lifted from ‘Playing The Angel’, ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ in its original form represents the album’s searing opener as well as one of its most fearsomely overdriven moments, with howling distorted synths powering their way beneath foreboding programmed beats and Dave Gahan’s distinctive baritone rock-god delivery, but for this CD single release, the Mode have enlisted the capable talents of Jacques Lu Cont and Bitstream to push the track closer to the dancefloor, alongside two atmospheric ‘listening oriented’ reworkings by Netherlands sound designer Kettel and high-profile labelmates Goldfrapp. Upon closer inspection, the six-track CD release I’m holding also appears to a promo-only item, so it’s entirely possible that the tracklisting represented here will be scattered across the various 12” and CD single formats.

Jacques Lu Cont emerges fresh from remix work with Madonna to supply two different mixes of ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ that definitely represent the most ‘big room’ house offerings presented here, his remix retaining Gahan’s entire original vocal and speeding it up slightly over a backdrop of 4/4 house beats bolstered with a New Order-esque bass riff and subtle overdriven guitar chords, while his dub also interestingly enough, retains pretty much the entire vocal, cutting and looping it over cut-up guitar tones in a remix that ends up being for all intents and purposes (save some squealing house buildups) more or less indistinguishable from his first. UK-based IDM / electro duo Bitstream contribute two reworkings that manage to be far more interesting, their ‘Threshold’ mix retaining the original album version’s buzzing static-filled intro noise, before cutting and scattering Gahan’s vocals through all sorts of contorted digital trickery over rapid-fire turntable scratches and relentless electro-infused breakbeats in a stunning contorted breakers reworking that calls to mind Si Begg butting heads with AFX, while their ‘Spansule’ mix opts for a more sinister and spacious path, leading Gahan’s more or less intact vocals over a gliding backdrop of assembly-line electro rhythms, pulsating synthetic bass and icily elegant melodic atmospherics that suggest Plaid at points.

Goldfrapp contribute an excellent extensive reworking of ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ that places the album original into the Somerset duo’s signature opulent surrounds, Alison’s distant siren backing vocals ghosting their way just behind Gahan’s vocoder-treated tones as lush organs and delicate electric guitars bring things to an explosive climax that bursts forth with howling synths, crashing drums and squealing, dubbed-out theremin howls taking things into aggressive territory similar to the more overdriven areas of ‘Black Cherry’, before Netherlands-based sound designer Kettel joins forces with Merck artist Secede for a gorgeous downtempo reworking of B-side ‘Newborn’ that places Gahan’s smooth, rich vocals over a delicate backdrop of pulsating slow IDM rhythms and twinkling analogue synth chords that slowly builds into a vast blur of vocal drones in a moment that easily rivals any of the track’s on Secede’s stunning ‘Bye Bye Gridlock Traffic’ album in terms of sheer icy beauty.

An excellent package of reworkings from Depeche Mode that sees the trajectory of inspired remix choices set by previous single ‘Precious’ continuing apace – if you’re a fan of the Mode, you’ll want to grab this for sure.

Check out http://www.depechemode.com and http://www.mute.com.