Electronic pioneers Vince Clarke, Neil Arthur and producer Benge have joined forces to launch a new collaborative project, Doublespeak, announcing their self-titled debut album set for release on 29th May.
Doublespeak
Bringing together decades of synth innovation and alternative pop history, Doublespeak sees the trio reimagine eleven songs spanning over 40 years, transforming cult favourites and mainstream classics alike into a cohesive body of analogue electronica.
The album is introduced with the first single, a striking reinterpretation of Back To Nature, originally by Fad Gadget. The track pays homage to the pioneering spirit of early electronic music while reworking it through a modern lens, retaining its stark minimalism but enriching it with contemporary production and texture.
Across the record, Doublespeak revisit an eclectic mix of material, from post-punk obscurities to chart-topping hits. Songs by ABBA, David Essex and The Carpenters are reshaped into darker, synth-heavy forms, while deeper cuts from artists such as Young Marble Giants and The Magnetic Fields are given expansive new interpretations.
For Clarke, best known for his work with Erasure and as a founding member of Depeche Mode, the project offered the chance to approach unfamiliar material with fresh ears. Arthur, frontman of Blancmange, highlights the strength of the songwriting itself, noting how reworking these tracks revealed their enduring brilliance. Meanwhile, Benge – long regarded as a key figure in the modern analogue synth movement – brings the trio’s vision together with a cohesive, studio-focused approach.
The roots of Doublespeak stretch back years, with early connections between Clarke and Arthur dating to the formative days of UK synth-pop. The project itself began taking shape in 2017, eventually evolving into a fully realised collaboration that bridges generations of electronic music.
Seven years in the making, Doublespeak stands as both tribute and reinvention – a “shadow autobiography” of its creators’ musical influences, refracted through decades of innovation in electronic sound.
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