Paper Monsters

Moving On...Sort Of
by: peter naldrett - uk correspondent

Following in the tracks of Martin L. Gore, Dave Gahan is the latest member of Depeche Mode to try his hand at solo life. Paper Monsters sees ten Gahan songs brought to life by the highly charismatic but historically very toubled Mode frontman.

The album has a very Depeche Mode feel to it, Gahan obviously and sensibly sticking to what he knows and does best. Even the design of the cover and CD booklet looks like it could have come from the band as a whole, the pictures being a very similar style to those seen in Songs of Faith and Devotion and Ultra. And while Gahan looks lonely and isolated in the promo shots, he sounds warm and surrounded by friends when making this impressive, addictive album.

"Dirty Sticky Floors", the first single, is perhaps a little too crass to be credible, but elsewhere Paper Monsters mirrors Mode’s finer qualities such as the ballads of "A Little Piece" and "Black And Blue Again" to the electric-rock of "Bottle Living". Good stuff.