Erasure are back with their 17th (17th!) album World Be Gone, and it’s in a rather different ball park from most of their previous work.
By Jane Howkins
Erasure are known mostly for producing elated synth pop songs that contain massive hooks. However, here they’ve gone down a different route, with their latest effort being a much more sombre affair than fans will be used to.
Like most bands, there have always been sadder songs to their back catalogue, but on World Be Gone this is more of a stark promise than usual, with current affairs and the events of the political world at the moment having had an effect on the songwriting of duo Vince Clark and Andy Bell. There are still some hooks here, and new single Love You To The Sky eases you into the record with them, but this is the sort of album that will take a few listens to get into.
The doom and gloom isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as World Be Gone is still a fairly decent record. Erasure have just taken a different route this time around, and the change up is actually commendable, especially after releasing 16 albums. For those concerned that they’ve gone all political, we should point out that Clark and Bell have written from the viewpoint of an observer, rather than aligning themselves with anyone or any party in particular. For a political album, it’s rather apolitical, if such a thing can be imagined.
World Be Gone is an unexpected turn for Erasure, but one that is welcome. It’s an interesting take on the world that Vince Clark and Andy Bell have, and we’d like to hear more of that in the future if possible.