OMD are a most curious beast. To the casual listener, they are the popmeisters who conquered Hollywood with ‘If You Leave’ from the John Hughes blockbuster ‘Pretty In Pink’ and had hits such as ‘Locomotion’, ‘(Forever) Live & Die’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’.
But because of these ubiquitous crowd pleasers, what is often forgotten about OMD is their period as electronic innovators. Here, they married Teutonic experimentation and motorik rhythms with a distinctly English interpretation of Elektronische Volksmusik. There were also the intelligent, heartfelt lyrics about inanimate technology such as planes, oil refineries and phone boxes as well as deceased female historical figures.
Pioneering early singles ‘Messages’, ‘Enola Gay’, ‘Souvenir’ and ‘Maid Of Orleans’ actually became international hits while the 1979 KRAFTWERK homage and one-off Factory single ‘Electricity’ is now rightly regarded as a synthpop classic. So with this particular formative legacy, it’s not surprising that OMD have produced a brand new opus entitled ‘English Electric’.
Having split in 1989, the original creative nucleus of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys reunited in 2007 for a tour of their biggest selling album ‘Architecture & Morality’ before their comeback ‘History Of Modern’ in 2010. It may have been well received generally, but admirers of OMD’s past knew of their capabilities and were for the most part, unsatisfied.
After the disparate collection of songs on ‘History Of Modern’, ‘English Electric’ is a cohesive listening experience. Having mostly worked on recordings separately for its predecessor, ‘English Electric’ is a true creative partnership between Humphreys and McCluskey, each playing to their strengths and confronting their creative tensions for the better by actually sitting in a room together. Adopting the theme of broken ideals and Utopian dreams ending in dystopic failure or regret, they came up with a mantra: “what does the future sound like?”
Paul Humphreys’ 2011 audio visual collaboration with ‘Generation X’ author Douglas Coupland for Alcatel-Lucent entitled ‘Electric Ikebana’ indicated there were aspirations to procure a more abstract work. Certainly for the launch of the album, OMD made a bold statement of intent with the voice collage teaser ‘Decimal’ while the first single was the lengthy ‘Metroland’; anyone who loves ‘Europe Endless’ should not have any trouble digesting the new material.
With ‘Our System’, the end result is stratospherically breathtaking! But this is what many love about OMD’s idiosyncratic nature. Out of their experimental confines come various accessible pop structures. ‘Night Café’ is a prime example; Paul Humphreys has described it as “She’s Leaving’ meets ‘Souvenir”. There’s also return of a Paul Humphreys lead vocal on the lovely ‘Stay With Me’ and the NEU! produced by Joe Meek tornado of ‘Dresden’ as the latest in the lineage of OMD songs about the mechanics of war and its consequences on the human condition.
The thinking behind ‘English Electric’ appears to have a conceptual affinity with ‘Dazzle Ships’, the fractured nautical journey that was panned on release in 1983 but has since been vindicated as a brave sonic exploration of Cold War tensions and economic corruption. ‘English Electric’ can be considered as having a spiritual connection. ‘Dazzle Ships’ was partly inspired by the short wave radio broadcasts of yesteryear and today’s equivalent could be online social networking. And indeed, the internet has played a big part in the construction of ‘English Electric’.
‘English Electric’ also sees OMD collaborate with both established and rising figures from the European electronic scene. FOTONOVELA are a production team best known for working with Athens based female synth duo MARSHEAUX. George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis were OMD’s label bosses in Greece via their Undo Records and McCluskey told them he wanted to write a song called ‘Helen Of Troy’.
And then there’s ‘Kissing The Machine’ with ex-KRAFTWERK member and electronic godfather Karl Bartos. From ELEKTRIC MUSIC’s 1993 ‘Esperanto’ album, it featured McCluskey on guest lead vocals and has now been rescued in a similar fashion to when ‘Dazzle Ships’ resurrected two 1981 B-sides. The vocal melody, words and lead synth melody have been retained from the original and Paul Humphreys has completely reworked the track from scratch, out-Kraftwerking KRAFTWERK. Featuring Claudia Brücken speaking in a German robot voice, with what could be perceived as KRAFTWERK, OMD and PROPAGANDA on the same song, the Anglo-German amalgamation is synthesized heaven and will give the Euro-sceptics even more to worry about!
There has been talk of ‘English Electric’ being OMD’s last album. The robotic resignation of penultimate track ‘Atomic Ranch’ certainly sets the tone before what could be considered OMD’s epitaph, the soulful ‘Final Song’. ‘English Electric’ is a definitive artistic statement. But is there anywhere for OMD to go after this?
‘English Electric’ uses the following instrumentation:
Paul Humphreys: Synth-Werk, ARP 2600, M Tron Pro, Trillion, Omnisphere, Oberheim SEM V, Morphoder, Jupiter 8V2, Minimoog V, Prophet Pro 53, Massive, Vacuum, Boom
Andy McCluskey: Vacuum, Indigo Virus, M Tron Pro, Jupiter 8, Vox Machina
‘English Electric’
OMD’s 2013 UK tour with special guests JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS includes:
Margate Winter Gardens (28th April), Birmingham Symphony Hall (29th April), Nottingham Royal Centre (1st May), Ipswich Regent Theatre (2nd May), London Roundhouse (3rd May), Bristol Colston Hall (5th May), Oxford New Theatre (6th May), Sheffield City Hall (8th May), Leeds Academy (9th May), Manchester Academy (10th May), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (12th May), Gateshead Sage (13th May), Liverpool Empire (14th May)
The Benelux shows featuring special guests METROLAND include:
Utrecht Tivoli (17th May) and Brussels Ancienne Belgique (20th May)
The German tour with special guests VILE ELECTRODES includes:
Hamburg Docks (21st May), Bielefeld Ringlokschuppen (22nd May), Berlin Tempodrom (24th May), Leipzig Haus Auensee (25th May), Köln E-Werk (27th May)
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Text by Chi Ming Lai
4th April 2013
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