Founded in 1980, Depeche Mode is the band I’ve been following for the longest time, with their songs still forming the continual soundtrack of my life. Like familiar old friends, I don’t agree with all of their words, but they have always been around, and I can relate enough to them, to appreciate their presence.
I remember being surprised that there is a band, whose music is able to articulate and score the darker moments of my life. Their existential angst did not deepen mine in difficult growing up years, while they offered company and solace, simply by resonating, being in sync, as if offering empathy for this human experience.
I remember writing their poetic lyrics into my school essays, that were remarked as being ‘deeply philosophical’ by my English teacher, that nevertheless scored well, while I secretly grinned. I remember passing my essay book to curious classmates, who were immersed in more mainstream music, who did not get why I was saying.
I remember attending my first DM concert, which was their Songs of Faith and Devotion tour, also the cheeky name of their new album then. I remember the stadium filled with ‘devotees’, with us caught up in the darkly majestic play of light and sound, that was almost a ‘religious’ experience, befitting of the tour’s name.
‘Memento Mori’, which is Latin for ‘Remember you will die’, is DM’s 15th album, and ‘M’ is their latest (2025) concert documentary. Growing up with them, it is timely that they have come of age too, to express the need to be mindful of this life’s impermanence. MM also happened to mark the passing of a band member.
Those who don’t get DM might see them to be too dark. But if you are to listen, look and reflect deeper, while they do depict the dark, they offer the light of hope too. There is probably nothing darker than death. But all, including Buddhists, should wake up to its impending nature, to live with greater agency and urgency. Now.
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