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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 2 years

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Soulgaze: Chapter 12

Severability. In the event that any one or more of the provisions contained herein, or the application thereof in any circumstance, is held invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and of the remaining provisions contained herein shall not be affected or impaired thereby.

When Min Jungho tells him he’s going to need to take drastic measures to stay out of Kang Yohan’s awareness, he doesn’t think he means like this.

Read on Ao3 Masterlist

Warnings: magic, supernatural elements, demons

Pairings: gahan

Word Count: 6373

His hands flex on the steering wheel as he drives down the road.

His baby deer is safe, now, tucked away behind the walls of the fortress with a rune on his door so that if anyone other than Elijah tries to open it, he will know immediately. Nothing would dare harm him there, he knows, not Elijah, not Yoon Soohyun, and not K.

K…

If the man is to be believed, the baby deer saved his life. He’d said as much, pale as he was thanks to the wound someone put in his abdomen, but eyes still sharp and focused as he’d explained how he was lured to an abandoned warehouse and had just enough time to tell Lawyer Ko his location before he was hurt.

Someone knows about you, he’d said as he described the runic circle he’d been trapped in, and they’re doing all they can to get you.

Including, it seems, using his Left Associate Judge.

He bites back a growl at how startled he’d been when he’d felt Gaon’s distress so keenly, the baby deer begging and pleading for help over a thread he hadn’t known was there. He’d scrambled up from his chair, racing for the door, only for it to open and Gaon to all but collapse into his arms. The poor thing had been in such a state, panting and sobbing and absolutely reeking of demonic magic. Then he’d pleaded to be taken home and what was he supposed to do, refuse?

He flexes his hands again and a blue-white glow covers the steering wheel. He’d opted to drive back to the court instead of moving through the aether, giving himself time to stoke the fury in his chest.

He is no stranger to the feeling, nor has he ever labored under the delusion that what he’s doing is just, but he thinks this might be the first time he could call it righteous.

By the time he arrives back at the court, his hands hum with excess energy and he takes a deep breath, pulling it back in. He has been patient before, he can be patient now. He gets out of the car and walks inside, ignoring the looks of the security and reporters.

Influence threshold, hmm? He smirks and stretches out, careful to keep it subtle enough so as not to be detected. Allow me to oblige.

Slowly, the building’s lobby empties of excess bodies as he walks up to the right floor, possible witnesses retreating until the pathway is clear. Not that any of them will have a chance to see what’s about to happen and survive, but better to be safe. Absently, he wonders when he began to worry about the humans that roamed these halls, it never used to preoccupy him.

The image of a little baby deer asking if anyone was hurt flashes to mind and his smile softens, just for a moment.

Then he turns the corner and it sharpens again, the office door growing closer and closer. He asks the aether to stop clarifying his image for the cameras and ducks past the last one. No one will know that someone came to visit Min Jungho at this hour.

He folds himself artfully into the aether, closing off the room beyond and sealing it, before he pushes open the door.

“Justice Min,” he drawls, smiling as the other demon jerks in fear, “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.”

Min Jungho scrambles up from his desk, reaching into the aether. His face goes pale as he realizes he’s trapped like a rat in a box.

“I thought we should meet,” Yohan continues, sauntering closer, “so I took the liberty of making sure we wouldn’t be disturbed.”

“Kang Yohan,” Min Jungho stammers, “I—I didn’t have a chance to see how the press conference went.”

“Mm.” He thrills at the way the other demon still shrinks away as he gets closer. “Then you would not have seen that your little experiment failed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Weak runes begin to glow behind him and they dissipate with a flick of his fingers. Min Jungho whirls around, mouth open.

“How—“

“Severing another demon’s thread,” he interrupts, dragging his fingertips along the table and stripping it of its runes too, “is considered an act of war, is it not?”

“An act of war?” Min Jungho scoffs. “What year do you think this is?”

He pauses. Plucking the last rune from the wood and holding it between his fingers, he looks up.

“Demon-kind has to evolve,” Min Jungho tries, some horrible speech dripping off of his useless tongue, “we cannot simply go around acting as we wished anymore, there are consequences!”

“Consequences?”

“You think power is the answer to everything?” Oh, are we feeling confident, now? “Someday, there will be someone more powerful than you, you know, and then you’ll be sorry—“

Min Jungho chokes off as his throat seizes. Yohan applies a little more pressure to the rune and the aether responds, bubbling up to the back of his mouth. He watches the other demon twitch and jerk before lifting the pressure. Min Jungho staggers, clutching the edge of his desk for support.

“Power,” he says lightly, consulting the rune in his hand, “is an interesting thing, wouldn’t you agree?”

“What—“

“Because you see,” he continues undaunted, applying slight pressure to the rune again, “I’m simply asking for something to happen and the aether responds.”

A rush of satisfaction as Min Jungho crumples to his knees, clutching a throat on the brink of ruin. He watches him scrabble uselessly for any of his magic before easing his grip again. The other demon gasps. He holds up the rune.

“If this…if asking is the power you fear, then I must say, I don’t know how you made it to your appointment as a Justice.” He smirks. “Perhaps it’s that influence threshold I keep hearing so much about.”

Distantly, he hears the whine of the aether and soothes it, promising something in return.

“Just this,” he says, crouching down and holding up the single rune, “would be enough for me to destroy you, but that feels so detached, so impersonal, hmm?”

Something dark in his chest stirs in contentment at how easily the sickly yellow rune shatters under his fingers and how the other demon’s spirit turns with terror.

“What,” Min Jungho gasps out, “do you want?”

“Oh, but you seemed to have such an idea of what I wanted, didn’t you?” He tilts his head. “You seemed very sure of it. Are you having second thoughts now?”

The spirit twitches in the aether, trying to amass enough power to break free. He has to hold back a laugh at the truly pathetic display of bared teeth. “Are you trying to influence me? It won’t work.”

“Is that what you’re worried about? That I’ll influence you?” He considers the demon in front of him. “Should I?”

A new wave of terror and oh, he has missed this.

“Should I make you believe your powers have gone and force you to live as a human?” He trails his hand along the desk. “Or should I trap you in the aether? Which one would be worse?”

“Enough,” Min Jungho spits, “of your sadistic ramblings and just get on with it.”

He allows the aether to slip into his smile. “If you insist.”

A quick cast and the spirit is frozen, held immobilized but fully conscious. He reaches into the aether and casts a rune on its surface.

“Wait,” the other demon yelps, “no—“

The rune begins to glow.

“Stop—stop, I’ll tell you what you want—“

“I don’t want anything from you.”

“The ritual, it wasn’t supposed to be completed—“ Min Jungho strains weakly against the bindings— “you—the sacrifice—“

The rune flares brighter and illuminates something…interesting.

A thread. A much larger thread, one woven around the spirit itself.

He reaches out and tugs on it lightly. The spirit seizes like a live wire.

“The contract!” Min Jungho gasps. “The contract, it—I had to, sh—“

The thread twitches and he smirks. Clever human, including a clause that prevents him from speaking of it.

“In my desk,” the demon rasps out, “there are the plans there, they—they’re not finished yet, the runic—“

The spirit buckles under the rune’s glow.

“Please,” Min Jungho gasps, “I’ve—I’ve told you what want, let—let me go—“

He laughs, standing up and looming over the demon cowering at his feet. “That’s what you think this is about? Some plan to destroy me? No, no, you were always insignificant.”

Min Jungho wheezes as he grabs his throat, hauling him bodily off the floor. He leans close, allowing some of his power to slip through. He drops the pleasant charade and the fury inside purrs at the spirit’s thrash of fear.

“But then you touched what was mine,” he says in a low, dangerous voice, “you smeared your magic over Kim Gaon and you dared to try and keep him from me.”

He leans closer.

“And for that, I will repay the hurt you have caused him tenfold.”

Min Jungho stares up at him and finally, the humane guise falls away, and the demon cackles. “You think you can just take power and not remember your place? You think the aether is such a benevolent force?”

Spittle sprays from his lips.

“You’ll cannibalize yourself,” he rasps, “and you will be dust. If you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss will stare back.”

The rune on the spirit burns.

“I am the abyss.”

He lets the motionless body fall to the floor, the demon’s spirit shattered and spliced across the aether to cobble itself painfully back together as he walks behind the desk. He breaks the paltry shield and pulls out the set of documents, tucking them into his suit and leaving the office.

When he arrives back home, he’s drawn to the room where his baby deer still sleeps, only to find the door cracked and Elijah’s door open. Curiosity draws him closer, to lean his shoulder against the door frame and look inside.

Elijah sits on the edge of Gaon’s bed, her eyes bright and wide as she tells a story. Gaon laughs as he playfully teases her about her exaggerations. She pushes him gently in retaliation but the smile never leaves her face. Threads wind between them, strong and sure, souls glowing in contentment.

As he watches, threads slowly start to reach across the room, nudging gently at him, tugging him further into the room. They haven’t noticed him yet and he lingers a moment longer.

I don’t care if humanity falls, so long as I have you two.

———

“I’m going out today,” Elijah announces after breakfast, “eonni is taking me and we’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Without waiting for a reply, she wheels quickly out of the kitchen, leaving the two of them staring after her. Gaon just nods after a moment and pulls out his phone, checking to make sure Soohyun’s texted him something similar and going to take care of the dishes. When Yohan doesn’t move, he glances back.

“She’ll be fine,” he reassures, “Soohyun will look after her and they won’t be out all day.”

It takes him another moment to look away from the door, but he looks up at Gaon and nods. He stands, taking the last of the dirty dishes and placing them in the sink, conveniently adding to the already substantial pile at Gaon’s elbow.

“What did you think?”

“Hm?”

“Of the breakfast, what did you think?” Gaon reaches for the soap. “I haven’t made something like that in a while, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be…”

He only realizes he’s rambling on and on about the food when Yohan chuckles. He looks up a bit sheepishly to see an unmistakeable fondness in his expression.

“…sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s cute.”

Gaon does not flush red at the throwaway comment. He does not feel heat rush to his face, his hands do not fumble on the soapy dish he’s trying to wash, and he definitely does not squeak.

He knows just by the slow cut of a smile across Yohan’s face that he’s going to trample that new piece of information at any given opportunity.

“Now that’s cute.”

“No, it’s not,” he mumbles, immediately turning back to try and clean the dishes.

“No? Why not, baby deer?”

“It just isn’t.”

Yohan hums. “That doesn’t sound like a very solid case, Kim pansa.”

Gaon scoffs, reaching for the towel as an excuse to hide his face. He starts to dry the dishes off and valiantly pretends Yohan’s gaze isn’t searing into the side of him.

“What evidence do you have, Kim pansa,” Yohan asks, “for your case?”

“What?”

“Because I have plenty of evidence,” comes the voice, and yep, definitely trampling that information as a hand comes up to turn his face, “right here.”

“Yah,” he yelps, startled at the touch, “what are you doing?”

He swats halfheartedly at Yohan’s hand and Yohan barely twitches to catch his wrist before it can retreat. There’s a wickedly playful light in his smile now and Gaon tugs against the two fingers pressed against his pulse.

“For shame, Kim pansa, taking a swipe at your boss,” Yohan scolds, words completely undercut by the smirk on his face, “and a demon at that.”

“Can I have my hand back now?”

Yohan’s fingers shift against his wrist. “Your pulse is so fast, are you alright?”

As if you don’t know why my pulse is fast, you bastard.

“What are you two doing?”

Yohan springs back like he’s been burned and Gaon turns back to the sink so quickly that he almost gives himself whiplash. Elijah glares at them for another moment before announcing she’s leaving now, refusing to let either of them explain.

Which is good, because Gaon doesn’t have one.

Yohan lets him wash and dry the rest of the dishes in peace, telling him to meet in the study once he’s finished and dressed. He stacks the rest of the dishes out of the way and follows him in.

K looks up from where he’s seated on one of the couches, examining a piece of paper. He nods in greeting. “Kim pansa.”

“You look better,” Gaon says, sitting on the other end of the couch, “are you healing alright?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been stabbed.” He shifts a bit and winces. “I’d forgotten how much it hurts.”

He nods to the paper he’d been looking at.

“Lieutenant Yoon took a picture of the runic circle used on me. You were there too, does it look like you remember?”

Gaon leans closer, pulling a rough sketch of the runic circle toward him. “Was this taken from the photo?”

K nods. “Part of them were obscured since there was blood on the runes and they weren’t glowing anymore, but she captured a good number of them.”

Gaon squints. The sketch artist has blocked out the runes that were obscured but the rest of them look as close to what he saw as he could imagine. “Yes, that looks right. Do you know what it is?”

“It’s a standard arrangement,” Yohan says, “but the hand that drew it is a novice.”

“Really?” He looks back at the runes. “How can you tell?”

“For one, it shouldn’t be that easy to break,” he says wryly, walking over to take the sheet, “and two, what did you tell me about demonic stasis?”

“Full and complete paralysis of being and consciousness, so…” He frowns. “Does that mean you shouldn’t have been bleeding out?”

“The magic was either improperly cast or deliberately drawn wrong.” Yohan sniffs. “And there are more efficient ways to achieve the same effect.”

Gaon glances over at K who just shakes his head. He stifles a snort.

“What do you remember about the attack?”

“Not much,” K admits, “I was following up on a lead and found the building. Someone hit me over the head and when I came to, I was on the floor with Judge Kim leaning over me.”

Gaon frowns, thinking. “So you don’t know if you were stabbed before or after being placed in the circle?”

“Is that important?”

“The press conference hadn’t started when I left,” Gaon says slowly, “and there was already a lot of blood by the time Soohyun-ah and I found you—“

“So the rate at which I bled would mean I was stabbed before,” K finishes, “but what does that tell us?”

“That it was a human who drew the circle.”

Both of them look up at Yohan, startled. K recovers first. “What?”

“The runes are meant to trap humans,” Yohan says, pointing to the sketch, “if you were stabbed before the circle was drawn, it means they would’ve been put into stasis if they entered the circle too.”

“Humans can use demonic runes?” Gaon stares down at the runic circle in horror. “Who…who would do that?”

“That’s what we need to figure out.” Yohan walks back to his desk and produces a thick set of papers, beckoning them to stand and come over. “I took this from Min Jungho’s desk—“

“Min Jungho?” K frowns. “Is he involved?”

Gaon closes his eyes and opens them. “He’s a demon too.”

He hears K’s intake of breath next to him and he can tell when he glances up at Yohan for confirmation.

“My apologies,” K says, bowing low, “I should have found that sooner.”

“He was good at hiding,” Gaon says, resentment bleeding into his words, “it’s not your fault.”

“He won’t be a problem anymore,” Yohan says firmly, “but he wasn’t acting alone. Someone has a contract with him, one that involved setting up a ritual.”

He spreads the papers out on the desk.

“According to him, these contain the necessary information.”

Gaon sighs. “The paperwork never ends, does it?”

“You’re telling me,” K grumbles, taking a stack and moving back to the couch, “you’re the ones who decided to make a career out of it.”

Gaon takes his stack and sits, squinting at the pages to try and read through the professor’s handwriting. The words seem to blur and move on the page, no matter how many times he squints at them.

“Aish,” he mutters after a while, “I remember having to read his handwriting in school, but it wasn’t this bad.”

K chuckles. “You didn’t receive your feedback on the computer?”

“No, he wasn’t very good with technology.”

Wait.

An idea crosses his mind.

“He needed my help just to figure out how to change his password,” he breathes out, “I doubt he bothered going through all the extra security protocols.”

“Kim pansa? What are you talking about?”

“His computer,” Gaon says in a rush, “he was never good at using technology, I remember hearing him complain about having to set all of it up when he first started working, I don’t think his information is part of the secured network.”

“So?”

“So, he’d have to contact whoever he’s working with somehow,” Gaon says, “and maybe the traces of that will be in his email or on his phone!”

K looks skeptical. “Demons have ways of communicating that aren’t physical or technological, I don’t know if it’ll be in there.“

“If we ask Elijah, could she do it?”

“Do what,” Yohan asks, coming back in dressed for court, hair swept back off his forehead and briefcase in hand.

“Hack into Min Jungho’s accounts,” K says, “apparently, he’s not very good with technology.”

“Whoever made the contract included a clause that he couldn’t talk about it,” Yohan says thoughtfully, “it seems unlikely they would’ve consented to a demonic tether.”

“If there’s a record of him communicating with someone, even if it’s just a name, it could be helpful.”

“He won’t be around to notice for a while,” Yohan says cryptically, “and it will look suspicious if the accounts don’t register any activity.”

He ponders for a moment longer.

“Ask when she returns,” he says finally, turning to leave, “but keep reading. There will only be so much information in an email.”

“That’s Yohan for ‘good job,’” K mumbles as they get back to work.

“I heard that.”

Gaon huffs a laugh, only to turn it quickly into a cough when he hears a soft good job, baby deer.

He keeps reading, or trying to read, getting up and grabbing a legal pad to copy it down one letter at a time. Seriously, he doesn’t remember it being this hard. A quick glance over at K shows he’s making about as much progress as Gaon is. He tears off a few sheets of paper and slides them over.

“How did he read what he’s written?” K huffs and reaches for a pen too. “It’s impossible.”

“He was always good at reading his own writing, I don’t…” Gaon trails off. “Oh.”

“’Oh?’”

He closes his eyes, a lump forming in his throat. “During law school, there’s a section on demon-kind legislation that’s mandatory, even if you’re not specializing in it.”

He takes a deep breath.

“I did wonder why he was so quick at reading demonic contracts even though it wasn’t his specialty.”

An awkward silence falls between them. Then Gaon frowns.

“But I could read his handwriting. When he gave me feedback I could read it.”

“Maybe demons can choose which writing is supposed to be difficult to understand?”

“Or he was helping me read it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “If he had a thread with me, that would mean—“

“That he could manipulate it so you could see,” K finishes, “well, can’t you just use it again?”

“It’s gone,” Gaon mumbles, rubbing his chest absentmindedly, “I asked—I asked for them to be gone.”

“Ah.”

Gaon closes his eyes. Stupid, stupid. The one connection they had to a demon they knew was involved and he threw it away because he was scared. He really isn’t paying attention.

“Kim Gaon.”

He looks up. K’s hand is on his shoulder and he stares intently at him.

“You were protecting yourself,” he says sternly, “from a demon. That is not your fault. You didn’t do something wrong.”

“H-how—“

“I did something similar. I recognize the expression.” He hesitates. “I asked to be forgotten, once. And with it went the leads on who framed my father.”

He gives him a somewhat awkward pat.

“It wasn’t wrong then, it isn’t wrong now.”

“Thank you.”

He nods to the pad of writing. “You’re making more progress than I am, anyway. I’ll see if I can find out something that will make it easier.”

He stands up and goes over to the bookshelves, pulling down a thick law book and sitting on the other couch. Gaon watches him for a moment longer before looking back down at the scrawled papers of notes.

I can do this.

It’s an old muscle, one he hasn’t used in a while, but he makes it comply and starts transcribing Min Jungho’s notes. Slowly but surely, he fills up the legal pad with writing and the pen in his hand moves more and more fluidly. He finds himself back in the library, working on assignments for demonic contracts and barely taking breaks before his exams, lost in the work.

This he can do.

When he gets to the end of the stack, he glances down and his eyes widen at how much he’s written. He pulls K’s stack toward him and starts again, flipping to a new piece of paper for every new note. It becomes rote: pull, squint, write, squint, new page. His shoulders begin to ache but he pays it no mind.

He has no idea what time it is when he sits back and groans, slumping against the couch, but his shoulders tell him it was too long, thank you. K glances up.

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, “I’d forgotten how hard that was.”

He gives himself a shake and glances at the clock.

“Are you hungry?”

“I could eat.”

“I’ll make us something for lunch.” He gets up, wincing at the pull in his shoulder as he walks to the kitchen. “Bring the papers!”

He hears K come in behind him as he puts on the rice. He glances over his shoulder to see him starting to read.

“Your handwriting is much easier.”

“I’m not a demon, I think that helps.”

“Mm. It’s better than Yohan’s.”

“…Yohan’s a demon.”

K pauses. “That’s why his handwriting is impossible to read!”

“I have no idea how Oh pansa manages, she’s able to skim the notes he leaves on the case files without any trouble.”

“Lawyer Ko as well, though maybe they got better at it during their mandatory demon-kind law units.”

“Or they just get their notes sent to them on the computer.”

Gaon sets lunch on the table and pulls some of the papers toward him. He does glance up to see when K takes the first bite and he does a double-take.

“…wow.”

“Thank you.”

“Does that ever get tiring, people’s reactions?”

“No,” he says with a smile, “never.”

They eat in silence, pondering over the papers. The ones Gaon’s grabbed seem to be scribblings of a contract, but with large gaps missing. Exact clauses, agreements, expectations, and restrictions. Almost like it’s been redacted. He suspects he’s looking at Min Jungho’s attempt at writing out the contract he’d been under while operating under the clause that keeps him from speaking of it.

“What’ve you got?”

“It looks like a list of supplies, but I don’t recognize any of them.” K points to one of the sheets. “There are quantities listed here, but not for anything familiar.”

“Do you recognize any of the places they’re getting it from?”

“Some of the names look vaguely familiar.” He sighs. “I can go have a look.”

The front door opens and they hear Elijah wheeling down the hall. She stops at the entrance of the kitchen and Gaon waves.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes. We had tteokbokki.” She tilts her head. “What are you doing?”

“Work stuff. Actually,” he says, leaning forward, “we were wondering if you could do us a favor.”

“What?”

“We were hoping you could get into Min Jungho’s work accounts. His email, his phone, that kind of thing.”

Elijah frowns. “Why do you want me to hack into your old professor’s things? Can’t you just ask him?”

K and Gaon exchange a glance. Gaon takes a deep breath.

“Did bujangnim tell you how we met?”

“He said someone gave you a soul cloak and tried to get him to accept you as a sacrifice.” She makes a face. “Why?”

“Min Jungho was the one who did that,” he explains, “he’s a demon too.”

Elijah’s face contorts in rage and she clutches her wheels. “What?”

“We think he’s working with someone to—“

“I’ll do it.”

Gaon’s eyes widen at the fury in her voice. “You will?”

“I said I’ll do it,” she repeats, turning and wheeling off down the corridor, muttering angrily to herself.

K chuckles at his astonishment. “Didn’t you know? They follow each other.”

He takes another moment to process how quickly Elijah had gotten angry on his behalf and shakes his head. K jerks his head toward the papers by his elbow.

“What did you find?”

“Parts of a demonic contract, but there are terms in here I don’t understand.” He frowns at the top sheet. “I’ve never seen them used like this before.”

“The library has a pretty extensive collection of law books, it might be worth looking.” K stands up. “I’m going to visit the places I recognize, see if I can figure out what’s going on.”

Gaon stands too. “Keep me updated?”

“I will. Thank you for lunch.”

The other man leaves and Gaon tidies the kitchen, stopping to grab the papers as he leaves. He puts them on the desk and grabs his pad again, looking back over the partially finished contract for the terms. He takes his list and goes to the wall.

The first book he pulls out has a tiny section on demon-kind legislation with a glossary that only extends to the classifications. He reaches for another and flips it open.

Tether: Among demonic contracts, not all are written up formally in a signed and negotiated format. Short-term agreements, trades, or intent to follow through are signified by tethers. These are more difficult to argue from a legal standpoint as they are dependent on hearsay but do not involve direct contact with the soul.

He frowns. What would a tether be doing in a larger contract? He scribbles it down next to the terms and looks at the next one on the list, flipping to the table of contents and scanning for the right section.

“Identifiers, classifications, influence thresholds…no.”

He takes out another book and scans the chapter titles, stopping when he sees something called ‘Effects.’ He flips it open. There.

Marked Soul: When one soul is a point of contention between two demonic parties, examining the soul for traces of demonic magic can reveal a Mark, a demon’s intent to form a contract or claim on the soul prior to a formal signing. While this can be used as evidence to sway the decision between one demonic party or the other, Marks are not normally made with the knowing consent of the human and thus their testimony could change. It is best practice to examine for Marks before hearing the human’s testimony.

A Marked Soul, then would not be the same thing as a tether. But then why would both of them be included in the same contract? If a soul had been marked, surely that would be enough to ward off another demon from trying to stake a claim anyway.

He frowns, thinking.

Perhaps it’s an issue over the relative strength of the tether versus a Mark, which one would stand out as more significant. From the sounds of it, a tether signifies some sort of consent from both the demon and the human, but the Mark physically affects the soul itself.

I’m glad I didn’t specialize in demon-kind legislation, but part of me wishes I specialized in demon-kind legislation.

Gaon looks back at the contract, filling in the blanks he has so far.

In accordance, the Tethered souls will act as conduits for the something, receiving, in turn, the exemptions from the DHP experiments.

Something, something, something about classifying the souls and organizing them according to Tethers, there’s a breakdown of how the Tethers should be organized.

The Marked Souls will supply the something, as designated by the demon in question. Their something presence will be allocated according to the something restrictions.

Gaon sits back, thinking. So this contract has to deal with forming Tethers and Marked Souls, but for what? What do the different things have in common? If the Tethers are so much easier to make—given by the expectation that there seems to be a lot of them, why do they need Marked Souls too?

He looks at the writing again. There’s a word that keeps coming up over and over again. Aether.

He scans through the law textbook and finds nothing. He looks through another one. Still nothing. He can’t remember ever hearing it before so he scrubs a hand over his face and tries to think.

If it isn’t a piece of legislative terminology, then it must be demonic in nature. He turns around, trying to think of where those books might be, if they are here, and pauses.

…if it is here, it probably isn’t out in public where anyone could see it.

He glances in the direction of the basement door and turns away.

No. He won’t do that. Not without Yohan’s permission.

Maybe he can find something at the library. He grabs his coat and goes to leave when he passes the basement door and—

Let me out, he hears again, let me out.

He glances down the hall, debating something, before he carefully rests his palm against the door. Something thrums. He closes his eyes and he can almost see a little boy, reaching for the door on the other side.

Let me out, please, let me out.

“You are out,” he whispers, “you’re safe now. The people who hurt you, they’re gone now. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

Let me, the boy whispers, straining for the door, let me, please let me.

“It’s okay.” He presses his palm against the door and the door grows warm. “It’s okay. You did it. You did it.”

He doesn’t push, doesn’t try and turn the knob. The boy stills, slowly, and his hand presses against the other side of the door.

Let me?

“You’re safe,” Gaon whispers, his eyes squeezed shut as the door thrums under his hand, “you made it safe.”

He feels a hand press against his and his eyes shoot open. The rune on the door glows blue-white. He steps back, ready to call Yohan and apologize, he didn’t mean to, when it glows brighter and the door slowly swings open, still glowing.

Something thuds against the floor and he looks down.

There’s a book lying at the top of the stairs.

He glances at the door and down again, slowly crouching and reaching for it. The door doesn’t swing in on him, nothing reaches out and pulls him down the stairs, just the worn leather under his fingers as he picks up the book.

“Thank you,” he murmurs as the door swings closed, the rune glowing one last time before it fades again.

He looks down and examines the cover. It’s worn away, almost so he can’t see it, but he can make out the word demon. He carries it back to the library and opens the book.

His eyes widen.

This…this isn’t a book written down, it’s imbued. Magic swirls between the pages, strong enough for him to feel as he turns them, words forming and dissolving as the paper moves back and forth. None of them fizzle into existence long enough for him to see them so he stops, letting the book lie flat on the table. Words swim nebulously in front of him but nothing consistent. He frowns.

“What kind of book is this?”

As soon as the question leaves his mouth, words solidify.

This book is a guide to demons and demon-kind, adapted to demonstrate.

“Demonstrate? Demonstrate what?”

The words swirl. This book understands that when most demons come of age, understanding their powers are not intuitive is a vital step. This book is designed to guide a demon’s power to enable its growth.

“…do all demons get this book?”

This book is of an extremely limited print number. It is currently the only copy.

“…so how did it end up here,” he mutters, “and why?”

The words don’t shift. He shakes himself and looks at the contract.

“What is the aether?”

The book swirls again. A bolded definition appears.

Aether: The realm of demons that exists just below the surface of the mortal world. It can enable travel over long distances within a short amount of time and contains pocket dimensions in which demonic nature is heightened.

Usage of the term can also refer to an essential component of demonic power in the mortal world, a force that can be manipulated and controlled in the form of runes, spells, and contracts.

“So the Tethered souls and Marked Souls are being used to gather and organize large quantities of aether,” Gaon says, “but why?”

He frowns.

“Do some things require more aether?”

Usage of Aether: While some demonic abilities require nothing more than an awareness of the aether, forming contracts with humans requires an additional level of skill. Because a human soul is not compatible with demonic spirits, additional aether is required to form a connection between the two beyond a rune or a spell.

“The more complex the connection, the more aether is required.” He looks at the contract again, frowning. “But demons make contracts with humans without requiring this much work…what could they be doing?”

He reads over the contract again, filling in the blanks. Most of the contract is complete now, detailing the collection and organization of a truly massive amount of aether, but it doesn’t say what it’s for.

His eyes land on another word.

Compatibility.

“What does compatibility mean?”

The book swirls.

Compatibility: When contracts are drawn up, it is with the express understanding that once the terms of the contract have been fulfilled within the given time frame, the human soul will come under full and complete ownership of the demon. This time frame will differ depending on the strength of the human soul and the nature of the agreement. This gauge is known as compatibility.

“So…the longer the contract, the more compatible the souls are?”

Compatibility can affect the nature of the contract itself, not just the time span, but what types of agreements can be drawn between the two parties and how much aether is required to form the contract. A soul that is less compatible, or a contract with an extremely long time frame, will require more aether to form successfully.

He reads the contract again, holding the sheet tightly in his hands.

Once compatibility has been established, the ritual will channel the aether into the formation of the bond. This contract will be terminated on the establishment of sustainable soulgaze.

“Soulgaze?”

Elijah comes wheeling out of her room, yelling over the railing. “I found who he’s been working with! It’s that weird Jung sanjagnim, she…”

She trails off when she sees Gaon staring off into space, his face slack with shock.

“...Gaon?”

Footsteps as the door opens and K rushes back inside. “Kim pansa, I’ve found what the supplies are, we…Kim pansa?”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know, I just got here!”

“Shake him,” she orders, “make him tell us what’s wrong?”

“Kim pansa,” K says, crouching next to him, “what happened? What did you find?”

“I know,” Gaon croaks, “I know what the ritual is for.”

#the devil judge #tdj #dragonbabbles #fic

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ajokeformur-ray · 4 years

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For the headcanon thing (if my suggestion even counts as one); how about Arthur joins or is joined by reader in the shower/bathub? I don't mind smut since it'd fit but I think it would also work SFW, however it's up to you - knowing your writing it would be great and sweet either way! :)

Thank you so much nonnie! I was gonna do both SFW and NSFW for this one but I posted the filthiest thing I’ve ever written yesterday (A Bloody Smile) so I’m gonna go with soft and sweet SFW for this one!

It seems kinda obvious but there’s nudity in this; no smut though! Just two weary adults sharing water.

Enjoy!

It was the end of just another day for you and you wanted to go home.

Well, no… You wouldn’t mind walking through your front door but even then, surrounded by pieces of you and your comforts, you wouldn’t really be home.

Not until you saw your Arthur.

Only when his arms surrounded you would you be home, and thoughts of this keep you company throughout the day, partially filling the void in your heart put there by his physical absence.

Your journey home somehow took forever and yet no time at all; so consumed were you by thoughts of going home to Arthur.

People gave you strange looks for smiling so widely on your way home, but you barely noticed them.

They didn’t have the one thing that you did and you almost felt sad for them.

Almost.

They would never know the absolute gift that was loving Arthur Fleck and being loved by him in return.

But you did.

You knew how lucky you were and it was for this reason that, in the moments you were conscious of it, did you wear your smile proudly.

Let them stare. It wasn’t like you were ever gonna see any of them again, anyway.

You practically ran up those horrible concrete steps, racing through the filthy streets of Gotham.

With the thrill that came from knowing that in minutes would you be seeing Arthur, you had the physical energy needed to forgo the rickety old lift entirely and soon you were at your shared apartment.

Despite your excitement at finally being in the place you knew Arthur would be, you entered slow enough so that, if he was lingering by the doorway, Arthur had enough time to get out of the way.

You had once hit him with the door on your way in, not knowing that he had his face pressed up against it; looking for you through the small peephole.

You had apologised a 1000000 times that night and each time had Arthur giggled and kissed you; he didn’t mind. It wasn’t like you had done it on purpose, though it had stung a little.

Not that he would tell you that.

He had just laughed through the slight pain ‘til he hadn’t felt it anymore, just like he dealt with everything else in his life.

This time, though, there was no one there.

You weren’t even slightly disappointed that Arthur hadn’t been waiting for you at the door like an excited puppy when their human goes to the kitchen. Not even a little. Nope.

You ignored the little voice in your head that called you a liar.

You could hear the radio being played in the bathroom, and you followed the sound easily; as if there was a rope between Arthur’s body and your own.

You were being pulled to his side by the mere knowledge that he was just on the other side of the door and you were powerless to stop yourself; not that you ever would.

Arthur was a force unto himself and never would or could you resist him.

You knocked three times in rapid succession with the second knuckle of an index finger and let yourself in, smiling at the sight which greeted you:

Arthur in the bath, bubbles everywhere.

It was in his hair, on his face, all over his body; he even had some bubbles on the tiles.

You had known that Arthur liked bubble baths but even this surprised you for a few seconds before you smiled gently at the man sat in the tub.

He was so soft and you loved him so much for it.

“Well, someone’s having fun.”

Even though you had knocked, Arthur still jumped at the sound of your voice.

You smiled at him and raised a hand in a tired greeting. “Hey.”

“Hi!” A small smile quickly dominated the whole of his mouth as Arthur took in the sight of you.

His smile soon turned into a frown, his strong dark brows creased in the middle; deepening the early wrinkles already there.

“You look tired.”

You shrugged, walked fully into the bathroom, shutting the door behind you.

“No more than you do.”

As Arthur spoke, you made your way over to him, toeing off your shoes and tugging off your coat, your bag and anything else that was strictly for the Outside World, which you wanted nothing to do with for the rest of the day.

It took so much from you and rarely gave back; so it could all go away for now.

So long as you had Arthur, you had everything.

You sat on the edge of the bathtub, your fingers sliding into Arthur’s wet curls.

His eyes closed in bliss as you lightly scratched his scalp.

“Have you washed your hair yet, honey?”

“No,” He hummed, “Was hoping you would be home in time.”

That was a daring admission in Arthur’s book and you rewarded him with a kiss, having to lean over in a slightly awkward manner to do so.

With your lips on his, your fingers in his hair, did tensions build, but you didn’t want that.

You just wanted to relax in his presence and have Arthur relax, too.

You pulled away from the kiss just in time to see Arthur looking dazed as he opened his eyes and you smiled, reaching over to grab the shampoo that he preferred to use - yours.

It made his hair smell like you, it made his pillows smell like you, and it helped him so much during the day to have pieces of you all around him; so that it was hard to deny the reality.

His delusions were far less vivid, less controlling of his perception of reality, when he had solid evidence to say that you were real.

You got to work on washing Arthur’s hair, massaging his scalp as you worked the suds through his dark curls; Arthur’s face was tipped towards the ceiling, a rare serene smile on his lips.

Periodically did you murmur instructions - tilt your head back a bit more, keep your eyes closed, stay still for me - and Arthur listened to everything.

Sometimes he would moan quietly or arch into your touch.

He was so touch starved that even the simplest of touches were almost sensual to him.

Every time he moaned, you would say something like “you’re so good for me, love” or some other small praise, which would only make him smile a little wider.

You just wanted to love him so hard that his life seemed infinitely better with you by his side.

Little did you know, all you had to do was stay - even without all these tender affections was Arthur’s life made better by your existence.

You rinsed out the suds and then conditioned his hair, grinning at the thought of how soft and fluffy it would be when you were done.

Maybe he would even let you brush it.

You knew he would - he trusted you completely.

When at last his hair was done did Arthur’s hand encircle one of your wrists as his intense greens met your eyes.

Though he said nothing, you saw his wants written on his face as clearly as if he had written join me? on his forehead in ink.

You stood from the side of the bath, undressed without a care - you ignored his hitched breath, his choked inhale, and put a hand on his shoulder - move forward - as he did so, you climbed in behind him, using your grip on that same shoulder to tug him back into resting against your chest.

You cuddled until the bath water started to grow cold.

You made it a point to press kisses to the bruises which littered Arthur’s back so densely that it was rare to find a spot of unblemished skin.

You were glad that he couldn’t see your face; it made hiding your tears that much easier.

You kissed every single bruise, trying to heal him with the strength of your love.

If such a thing worked in real life then never again would Arthur feel even a twinge of pain for the rest of his life.

As you cuddled, you spoke about your days, traded jokes, and just basked in each other’s company.

There was nothing you loved more than quiet nights like this, and even in the future when he grew darker, more sure of himself, when he traded what the world expected of him for who he really was, did you still enjoy and cherish nights like this.

For always would you come home to each other; no matter what.

The Arthur Fleck/Joker Defense Squad @writings-of-a-gen-z @x-avantgarde-x @insomniabird @mavalenovaninagavi @itwasrealenough @morrisonmercurymalek @rand0ms-fand0ms @rafaelina-casillas @aclownthing @rebs-doom @vivft @help-i-am-obssessed @autumnaffection @taintednihilist @vladtoly @mg-woolf99 @misstgrey92 @that-s-life @dopey-girl-blogs @seeking-dreamland @sweetheart-syndrome @heartxfdesire @xmusichealsthesoulx @0callmejude0 @the-one-that-likes-riddles @hannibalsslut @folliaght @freeeshavacadoo @bingewatchingmylifegoby @unlovedbyeveryoneandeverything @okamiredfoxx @sp0okysp0oky @the-pandorabox @mardema @jibanyyan @honeyflvredcoughdrop @emissarydecksetter @jokerfleckk @epidendroideae @chuuntas @stillmabel @pumpkinpeyes @onehystericalqueenposts @the-jokers-wolf @nalsswa @justahyena @arianatheangelworld @soullessblondbitch @gothamslittlejester @twentyonestarrynights @sirianfromsixties @kissmeclownman @joker-is-my-hero @lazyloosah @lovesickkloxx @ladylovelyluna @live-love-loki @clownerybbxx @tragicarthur @anmach123 @rommie-chan @arthurflock @lucyboytom @anti-peach @immortal-bi-bitch @hearthurfleck @crazieroutthere @curlystark @hailmary-yramliah @sagyunaro @playinthedarktillitsgoldenagain @jokeringcutio @xenthefox @mijachula@stcrrynightsinneverlcnd @cheyennejonas22 @mrjfleck @pauli1100 @smitten-susie @actualkey @callmejokerfleck @jaylovesbats @itsforyoubitch @ridiculousnerd @killerprotector3579 @soulsdontbreaktheybeeend @fantasticwinnerclodexpert @arthurs-sweater @pinkie44pie @tsukiakarinobara @prettyxlittlexpsychoxprincess @elodia-gahan @yours-mia @rustyt33th @parkdonghoons @lady-carnivals-stuff @hobi-hobi-kyo-kkyu @jupiturde @incognitofish @j-sux @nothing-but-a-comedy @tahliamalfoydepp

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vinylfromthevault · 6 years

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Depeche Mode “Construction Time Again” released 35 years ago on this date, August 22nd. Mute Records/Sire Records. Depeche Mode’s third album and for sure in my top five with its dark, almost sinister tone compounded by the heavy use of industrial sounds and socio-polical themes (most especially the track “Pipeline” which in both tempo and lyrics - i.e. “Let the beads of sweat flow until the ends have met through, could take a long time working on the pipeline” - coveys the drudgery of capitalist labor while employing pipe banging samples; the title of the album comes from the second lyrical line of the song). Depeche Mode released three singles from Construction Time Again. The first was “Everything Counts” which musically is the most uplifting of the album but lyrically among the most scathing: “The graph on the wall tells the story of it all, picture it now, see just how, the lies and deceit gained a little more power.” “Everything Counts” hit #6 on the UK charts and #17 on the US Hot Dance chart. The anti-love song “Love, In Itself” was the second single and it hit #21 in the UK. Allmusic says about the single that it’s “a curious single even for the band, with a stentorian pace and delivery from Gahan matched by a keyboard line that's more nagging than memorable. However, the deep production throughout, from the soothing wash in the background to the quick interjections of clicks and chimes, not to mention an amusing tradeoff between acoustic guitars and pianos halfway through, shows a definite something.” The third single, “Told You So,” was released only in Spain. I love every other song on Construction Time Again - the juxtaposition of danger and soaring melodic joy on “Two Minute Warning” (written by newly permanent DM member Alan Wilder), the scathing pain of “Shame” and the crazed energy of “More Than a Party” which recalls many many parties I attended in the 80′s.

Critically Construction Time Again received mixed reviews. Allmusic says it “is a bit hit and miss nonetheless, but when it does hit, it does so perfectly...The album's clear highlight has to be ‘Everything Counts,’ a live staple for years, combining a deceptively simple, ironic lyric about the music business with a perfectly catchy but unusually arranged blending of more metallic scraping samples and melodica amid even more forceful funk/hip-hop beats. Elsewhere, on ‘Shame’ and “Told You So,’ Gore's lyrics start taking on more of the obsessive personal relationship studies that would soon dominate his writing. Wilder's own songwriting contributions are fine musically, but lyrically, "preachy" puts it mildly, especially the environment-friendly ‘The Landscape Is Changing.’” PopMatters says “Mostly, though, CTA serves as a stylistic bridge. As such, it's the most awkward, and perhaps worst, studio album in the Depeche Mode discography” while Rolling Stone gives it either a 2 or 3 star rating (out of 5), Smash Hits a 7 star (out of 10) and Spin a 2 star (out of 10). I obviously wholeheartedly disagree and find Construction Time Again to still be totally relevant and a fantastic listen 35 years later.

#depeche mode #construction time again #martin gore #dave gahan #alan wilder #andrew fletcher #synthpop #new wave #industrial music #industrial dance #vinyl #80's music

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traces-to-nowhere · 6 years

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A Few Notes from my short trip to Berlin/the Jan 19 DM show:

I wish I had spent a few more days in the city, maybe a full week. If I go back, I would like to have it be a part of a much longer trip so I could see a number of different cities and towns. And also I’d like to go back when I’m a little more confident with my German.

My AirBnB host kind of had a younger Jeremy Irons look going on. A++

I love how easy it is to get around. The buses and trains are really easy to navigate and it makes me miss living in a city. :-/

I cried in a museum. That’s a thing I do when I travel. I get so tired that my ability to control my emotions is just gone, so when I see a fucking gorgeous Caravaggio/Rembrandt/whatever painting hanging in front of me when I’m sleep deprived and not really eating because I’m super anxious, naturally, I cry.

EDIT! MAJOR OMISSION from earlier and I feel like such a dick. I have to thank @worldsinmyeyes for their help pre-gig. They gave me some really awesome advice, so dear one, if we ever happen to meet in person, I owe you coffee or something. I would have been so fucked without your great and sage wisdom. <3

Shout out to the very nice people who kept me company in the queue for the DM gig and also the two ladies I stood with during the actual show.

From talking with one of the women next to me on the barrier, it sounds like superfan bullshit transcends fandom. Across the board, some hardcore fans are just... terrible people. She described some of the entitled, self-absorbed crap fans pull, and it was stuff I’m sadly all too familiar with. She said the crowd that night was way more pushy than usual, but I had expected people to be like that (I guess because that’s what I’m used to at concerts in the US).

Now that I’ve done the whole early entry queue thing, I don’t know that I need to do it again. Was it worth it? Absolutely. But I think I’m good now and I don’t need to do it that same way ever again. And I’m not even sure there will be an again, after the Spirit Tour. If there is, and there isn’t the stupid online queuing for tickets in the US again, I’d rather just pay whatever for a better seat, because after Friday, NO MORE UPPER TIER BULLSHIT SEATS FOR THIS BITCH. But like, if Martin or Dave did solo shows or shows with another band in the US, fuck yes I would try to go, especially if they were in New York. It’s a no brainer.

BUT HEY I was on the barrier for a Depeche Mode show in GERMANY? I really wanted the experience of seeing them with people who were excited to be there, and I was not disappointed. The audience at the DC show was so lackluster and this more than made up for it. I was in the corner between the main stage and the catwalk and, like I said before, had two really cool ladies on either side of me. They told me about other shows, one of them had been to the two in NYC so we talked about New York for a while, we made bad Depeche Mode puns. It was great, and I hope they knew how much I appreciated their company.

In hindsight, I wish I had spent less time taking photos, but I am glad I got a few good ones. I realized at one point I was watching too much of the show through my phone camera and not... actually watching it. Shame on me. Like, I want to have photos to look back at months or years later, but I also wanted the pure experience of just enjoying it first hand. It’s a complicated thing.

The show itself, though?

Peter & Christian: Peter is so unassuming and is such an amazing supportive part of the band, it's great to hear him sing with Martin. And Christian blows my mind, I don't think I've ever personally seen a drummer play as relentlessly as he does. He is a powerful driving force and I am so glad he's part of the band.

Fletch: THAT BOY LIVES UP TO THE HYPE. People be talking about Fletch’s Dad Moves and I’m like, yeah sure. But then he does them in front of me and I’m like ONE THOUSAND HEART EYES EMOJIS. Someone somewhere please make a gif set of Andy’s awkward arm waving and swaying so I can look at it whenever I’m sad.

Martin: The whole experience felt like a fever dream. And in the past few days I’ve thought, “Did Martin really do Sister of Night AND Judas??” If he was actually trying to murder me, Sister of Night would have been the first wound and Judas would have finished me off. Like yeah, I’m always like “Dave this, Dave that,” but little Martin L. Gore can kill with a single blow if that blow is him singing, “So open yourself for me/Risk your health for me,” IN. FRONT. OF. MY. FACE. Anyway, Martin is lovely. And it's so, so good when Martin really gets to show off as a guitarist. His solo near the end of "Personal Jesus" was an excellent example of how good of a musician he actually is.

Dave: How... is Dave Gahan... like that? How can an adult human person have that much insane energy? It’s like he has jet fuel for blood and performs like every show actually means something. It was definitely interesting to see two very different shows on this tour, once from an upper tier seat and then this, from basically the front row. From the high seats, you miss so much unless it’s projected on the video screen behind the band. But you get a great sense of the size of the band, how they really are bigger than the sum of the five men themselves. And I have a (maybe bad) habit of elevating the bands and artists I love, I put them on pedestals, and from seats in the upper deck that pedestal is as high as ever. But when you watch Depeche Mode from the floor, front or second row, that pedestal becomes quite a bit shorter. They are, in fact, people and they are working their asses off. When you’re that close, you can see when Dave pauses between songs or verses how fucking tired he is. But also when you’re that close, you get to see him playing with and teasing the audience, expressions and gestures you might have missed if you were sitting far away. You catch things that make his performance all the more special and thrilling. And it is thrilling, to watch someone that good (who knows they’re that good) working hard to deliver a performance that will always exceed the audience’s expectations. Dave can go from powerful and commanding, to ugly and gross, to manic and dangerous, to playful and charming, to depraved and flirtatious, sometimes all within one song. And in my book, that versatility is the mark of a truly great performer.

#personal #tl;dr sorry for the long winded post

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depechemodespiritera · 7 years

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Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan is having a wistful moment of gratitude, gazing out the picturesque window of his Beverly Hills hotel room at the sunshine that radiates like a golden blanket over steadily swaying palm trees and dreamy, magazine-ready homes in the hills beyond.

"L.A. has been there for us from day one, really," he says of his band's Angeleno fan base. "We were playing smaller places, but there was a cult aspect to the way people came to our shows and knew our music, before they even knew who the band was."

It's late April, and Gahan and his longtime partner in Depeche, Martin Gore, are doing interviews in their rooms at the Four Seasons as they gear up for a secret fan show at Hollywood Forever Cemetery's Masonic Lodge, a warm-up gig for an international tour in support of their latest album, Spirit. (The band's third member, Andy Fletcher, was not present.) Both speak enthusiastically about their love of L.A. and their fervent fan base here, which helped them sell out a record-breaking four nights at the Hollywood Bowl, something no other group has ever done.

Much has been made of L.A.'s Morrissey obsession, but it could be argued that Depeche Mode, who play those sold-out Bowl shows starting this week, enjoy an even more fanatical following here. There are club nights devoted to them and a popular DM convention held here every year, and the band's hits have never left rotation on L.A. radio, not just KROQ (where they got their first airplay) but mainstream pop stations as well.

Many Angelenos who came of age in the '80s and '90s feel a kinship with Depeche Mode and their songs' themes of sorrow and struggle, shameless romance and eternal outsider-dom. It's the same reason the goth scene is so popular here. Depeche Mode's music speaks to those of us who have always felt that the stereotypical image of sunny SoCal — wherein everyone is blond and beachy — is false and at odds with our true depth and dark proclivities. In an ironic way, dark music like Depeche's connects in L.A. more than anywhere else in the world. And you can dance to it.

Gore's ability to write emotive yet edgy songs with infectious hooks, and Gahan's visceral interpretations of them, have made them one of the most potent pairs in music. Personality-wise they could hardly be more different — Gahan the outgoing, dramatic frontman, Gore the quiet, sensitive songwriter. But they have much in common, too, including an obvious fondness for L.A. Gore lives with his wife and two baby daughters not far away in Santa Barbara. Gahan, who resides in New York, says his 18-year-old daughter, at the time of our interview, was considering attending USC. Still, their connection to L.A. runs even deeper than most people know.

Gore recalls the band being more of an underground phenomenon when they first came to L.A. during the "Just Can't Get Enough" era circa 1982, and how the crowds swelled when they returned around '85. "That was when it blew up," he says. "It seemed like alternative radio had taken hold of the country, but especially here in L.A. ... We went from playing small theaters to big ones, playing to 15,000 people. That was incredible for us at the time."

Gahan has a soft spot for early days, too, recalling the smaller shows when they were unknowns playing the Roxy and the now-shuttered Perkins Palace. He peers intently out his window once again, this time as if he's looking for something. "When I first came here, I was like, 'I wanna live here!'?" he says, pointing at the skyline.

In 1989, Gahan left his first wife and moved in with the band's PR director, Teresa Conroy, whom he later married. His second wife is a big link to Gahan's L.A. story, one that many fans don't know much about. (Full disclosure: I have been friends with Conroy since 2008, after I profiled her in L.A. Weekly's 2008 People issue. Gahan brought her up during our interview unprompted.) What little they do know has, for the most part, been negative, with stories painting her as the scapegoat for Gahan's well-documented drug problems. With our conversation spotlighting L.A. and its influence on the band, the frontman seems eager to set the record straight.

"I fell in love with her during tour," he says. "We just connected and at the end, I told my wife in England I was not coming back. ... I showed up on Teresa's doorstep on Sweetzer and Fountain Avenue with my little suitcase and said, 'Hey!'

"We ended up getting married. We lived near Santa Monica, in Nichols Canyon and Benedict Canyon for a while. We moved around, but what brought that all down for me was I just wanted ..."

He pauses for a long moment. "Substances?" I ask.

"Yes. That's what I liked to do most," he admits, "and it tore us apart, so that was the end of it. I moved to New York around '97 and changed my life. My behavior was not gonna change in L.A.

"Some of what people thought about her might have been my doing, just blabbing my mouth off. I realized after being clean 10 years later, it was like, wow ... at the time, as long as I had what I needed, I didn't give a fuck about anybody else. And I didn't think I was that person, but I was that person."

Gahan, now 55 and married to his third wife for 18 years, has been clean and sober for more than two decades. He looks healthy and trim in a black T-shirt and dark-rimmed glasses, with hints of gray on his chin and temples. But back then, he nearly died a few times from heroin overdoses, once at the Sunset Marquis where the band rented a villa on a frequent basis. Today, however, he seems to associate L.A. and his second marriage not so much with his addiction but with inspiration.

"I haven't talked about it enough, but that time in L.A. was wonderful. The few years I did spend here when we were just hanging out and I didn't work for a couple of years, there were all these great bands playing, like Jane's Addiction, Guns N' Roses. Going to clubs like Cathouse. There was this great music coming out of L.A. There was an energy in some of the new music coming up that I was feeling and seeing here."

Gahan's personal style at the time was influenced by the L.A. rock scene (more tattoos, longer hair, leather), and he sought to steer Depeche's music that way, too. When he went back into the studio to make Songs of Faith and Devotion after 1990's Violator, the career-changing album that included worldwide hits "Personal Jesus," "Policy of Truth" and "Enjoy the Silence," Gahan says, "I was like, 'Guys, we've gotta change it up! This is just too clean, too neat!'?" But Gore and the rest of the band "didn't like at all where I was coming from."

Gore, the band's primary songwriter, was the more provocative dresser in Depeche's early days. He fancied lots of guyliner and became a fan of bondage getups — often purchased, he says, at Trashy Lingerie, not far from the Four Seasons. It gave the band an androgynous edge that "the girls seemed to like," and complemented Gore's sensitive lyrics and rhythm-driven compositions. Depeche were huge after Violator, so it's no surprise that Gore didn't want to change the winning formula, even if music in general was having a heavier moment.

Looking tan and content during our conversation (the bondage attire is long gone, replaced by a fitted black ensemble not unlike Gahan's), Gore, 56, concedes that letting go of creative control has always been something of a challenge. He describes how the early dynamics of the band evolved, putting him "behind the wheel" in terms of writing the songs and shaping the band's sound.

"When we first started we were 18 and 19, and the main driving force behind the band was Vince Clarke. He was the main songwriter, and we were just along for the ride, really," Gore says. "And then he announced to us that he was leaving before the first album was released. So because we were young and didn't really think too much about anything, we just booked some studio time and went in and carried on laying down with a three-piece, as you would at 19 and 20. We never expected it to be a huge commercial success, especially at the time. But then we grew up a little bit."

With Clarke moving on to other projects (notably Yazoo with Alison Moyet and Erasure with Andy Bell), Gore just naturally took the reins, and his talent for songwriting grew as he did. "By the time we got to the third album, we'd traveled the world quite a lot and seen a lot more," he says. "I started to get, not exactly dark by the third album [Construction Time Again], but a little bit more worldly, maybe."

Though Gahan felt like he "wanted to take it to another level," after his time in L.A. in the '90s, he didn't officially contribute to actual Depeche songwriting until 2005's Playing the Angel. It was all Gore until then. Still, the edgier aesthetics and more visceral performance style Gahan honed did steer the band into grittier territory, which fans (particularly female fans) found dramatic and sexy.

Both Gore and Gahan admit their relationship has had its tempestuous and trying moments over the years. But Gore says that after working on their latest, highly political album, Spirit, it's "as good as it's ever been."

For this tour and the Hollywood Bowl shows, Gore promises to take lead vocals on the tender numbers fans have come to expect from him, plus lots of groove-driven guitar work on songs both old and new. Depeche's massive catalog of memorable, emotionally charged music aside, their live show is why they continue to sell out stadiums at this point in their career.

I was lucky enough to attend both a rehearsal at SIR Studios in Hollywood before our interviews and the warm-up "secret" show at Hollywood Forever, and the band are as good as they've ever been onstage. With stellar production (including visuals by famed photographer and video director Anton Corbijn) and support from a solid backing band, Depeche Mode are almost certain to deliver the transcendent experience their fans expect. The Global Spirit Tour is aptly named, and Gore and Gahan hold nothing back, complementing each other in the kind of caustic yet comfortable way that only the most iconic duos do.

"Sometimes a band needs to have a bit of friction. ... The best stuff sometimes comes out of this need to be heard," Gahan explains. "Creatively we're old enough to realize that we respect each other's differences, and we know that we need each other. That's what Depeche Mode is. It's a weirdness between the two of us."

#i love them so much #depeche mode #spirit era #los angeles #hollywood bowl

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theseventhhex · 6 years

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EMA Interview

Erika Michelle Anderson

Photo by Eleonora C. Collini

Having returned with the striking and remarkable album entitled ‘Exile in the Outer Ring’, the gifted Erikia M. Anderson delivers a pitch-black world of dark night highways, American flags hung over basement windows, jails and revival meetings and casinos and rage. EMA – a Midwesterner who never lost her thousand-yard stare - has provided an album that renders Middle American poverty and resentment with frightening realism and deep empathy. The album is unique in its mingling of gender politics with American working-class anxiety. The result is a deeply personal, confrontational, but ultimately redemptive album from a quintessentially American artist at the peak of her form… The Seventh Hex talks to Erika about conspiracy theories, newborn puppies and future plans…

TSH: How liberating was it for you to know that with ‘Exile in the Outer Ring’ you got to feel more like your true self than with previous releases?

Erika: It definitely felt good. I guess there are pros and cons to how I feel when I look back on ‘Exile on the Outer Ring’. I get to feel invested in my work and very proud of it. At the end of the day I can look back on this body of work and stand by it knowing I worked so hard. Nonetheless, there’s definitely a fraction of people who believe that I should try harder to make music that people will like more, ha! Even though I’m already my biggest critic as it is.

TSH: You were channelling your younger Guns N’ Roses memories with this record too - bringing to mind ‘Appetite for Destruction’...

Erika: Oh, I love that record, and it was massive when I was young. You know, I have such complex feelings towards that album because on one hand I love the songs, but on the other hand there’s so much misogyny within the record. It creates an interesting outlook where you take in the music, but it still creates somewhat of a conflict within you. I mainly associate that record with childhood memories.

TSH: You also incorporated more static noise, manipulation and drone sounds - these were the type of styles you really wanted to cover...

Erika: Absolutely. Incorporating these styles and sounds on my latest record definitely made me feel content. I had the true wisdom of doing whatever I wanted, and this is the type of truth in life that people forget that they have all of the time. I feel like I have a language of things that I like doing with my music and it feels very specific to me and for my work. This is the type of direction I want to continue to explore and take further, as opposed to fitting in with what is popular.

TSH: Does it serve you well to not have your own tantrums and instead to keep your feelings inside you until you can find a way of putting them into your music?

Erika: This approach allows me to excel, but I guess more than anything, it’s just who I am. I don’t know exactly where it comes from. It’s kind of like an American Midwest thing of holding in your feelings. However, it makes the work feel very cathartic.

TSH: The notion of creative control is one that really drives you too...

Erika: Yeah, totally. I have a real interest in self-discovery and creating things that are a complete reflection of myself and the things that I like. Me wanting creative control actually cost me my relationship with Matador - they had specific producers they wanted me to use and urged me to meet them. It wasn’t so much a gesture as it was a deal breaker for them. Regardless, I’m happy with how things have turned out for me and I enjoy doing things my way.

TSH: What was the process like in fleshing out ‘Fire Water Air LSD‘?

Erika: That song is like my Guns N’ Roses rip-off, ha! The chorus is me just sitting with a guitar and trying to rip off ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. I actually had a slower version of the chorus for this song but a friend helped me speed it up to make it a little more poppy. However, it still wasn’t working for me so I added a track by a noise art band called MSHR behind it, which was just what it needed. Also, I like that I got to keep these crazy vocals that I did for this song. I really had a lot of fun making vocals that sounded grotesque or kind of insane.

TSH: What was the trickiest part in forming ‘Amnesia Haze’?

Erika: Well, the same person that worked with me on ‘Fire Water Air LSD’ actually worked with me on this track. He handed the track to me and I recorded it straight into the laptop mic in Ableton. The tricky part was the difficulty in going back to try to re-record. I actually preferred the Ableton vocals more; they were really lo-fi.

TSH: Having touched on the turmoil in America with ‘False Flag’, have you come across quite a few conspiracy theories lately?

Erika: Oh my god, everything is like a crazy conspiracy theory. I was aware of some of this stuff because someone I was very close to in South Dakota was very into conspiracy theories, kind of to the point where sometimes I couldn’t tell if he was having a break with reality. In America it’s so crazy because people can’t tell what’s real anymore. Out here, people have lost the ability to think rationally.

TSH: You recently had the honour of touring with Depeche Mode, in addition to Dave Gahan also playing ‘Blood and Chalk’ on guitar…

Erika: It’s so amazing! I really love his guitar playing. He kept himself private during the tour, which is understandable because he has to put out so much energy, but every once in a while he’ll send me his guitar playing over an EMA song. It’s so cool! I really want him to make a guitar record, he’s exceptionally good.

TSH: Both of your grandmothers had hanging witch decorations in their kitchens and you tweeted if anyone could bring you one they’d get free entry to an EMA gig or a free vinyl. Did you manage to get a hold of them?

Erika: Yes! On the last day of our European tour last fall these three Polish boys brought me witches. I was so happy and I have them hanging up in my kitchen now!

TSH: Also, in your home, you have newborn puppies...

Erika: Haha! Oh, it’s so cute, but it’s also very real, you know? It’s like a very raw and of the flesh kind of experience, especially the giving birth part. I’ve had kittens before too and they push each other out of the way to get their mother’s milk. I’ve also had kittens die whilst I’ve looked after them because they’ve been too sick or because I’ve got them too late - it can get heavy and sad. I think I’m very in touch with nature in a suburban way and it’s a way to bring wildness into my home.

TSH: Are you still drawn to topics that are taboo?

Erika: I think I’m drawn to things that are taboo because if something makes you uncomfortable it usually means that there is truth there. It’s the type of stuff that people don’t really want to face, and if you can go to this place with nothing really stopping you, that’s when you can find things to be quite revealing.

TSH: Knowing that being immersed in music leaves you feeling stronger than you were before, is this the primary type of drive you need to keep you feeling creative?

Erika: Yeah, I guess so. If I’m expressing myself through art I’ll continue to gain a sense of self-discovery from it, as well as self-knowledge too. Overall, I’m always looking to just keep things interesting. I want to try new things, especially on the performance side. I’ve been thinking about doing a one person performance because the money is so bad for musicians. Doing something by yourself certainly makes more sense. All in all, I have a lot of ideas and I’m open to suggestions. I think I’ll just remain open-minded regarding future plans.

EMA - “Fire Water Air LSD”

EMA - “Amnesia Haze”

Outtakes From Exile

#Interview #EMA #Erika m anderson

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jameycottee018-blog · 6 years

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Meals And Also Wellness

Black Moon Lilith is a mystical Astrological point which is challenging to put ones finger on. The Astrochemistry in simplistic phrases, the BML is the Moons furthest aspect in its own track around the planet. All Sandra could think about was actually the amount of opportunities she had actually been fucked that time in the bottom as well as oral cavity and also just how much cum was in her base and Rebecca informed her to lean over the office chair and get ready for a shock. While Axon performs certainly not provide sufficient declaration to isolate the bookkeeping impact coming from this brand new program (as well as we believe ink cartridge sales are actually actually pumped up via TASER 60), our experts perform certainly not believe that is actually a coincidence that the business reported the best ink cartridge revenue one-fourth in the firm's past history in Q1 2017 - right when the brand-new program was actually executed.

Arbitrarily combining Bicentennial Playground, the planters market buildout, Key Road ornament, parks and also water center bonds, Coyle website sewer fee waivers and also the associateding company TIF welfare handouts, special event tools services, overtime and a travel and entertainment account luncheon everywhere, Gahan has actually devoted properly north of $30 thousand considering that January 1, 2012, on yearns for, in contrast to demands.

I allow duty for that but providing harassment orders willy nilly like this, particularly when youngsters are actually included when the various other party continues to scold the other in nearly a "baiting" design from technique, is counter productive as well as never ever really resolving the first issues. That needs to likewise be taken note that even in conditions where a white colored possesses the very same interior energy and even in uncommon instances a slightly better interior power, the Black still has the capacity to remove that whites power as well as therefore enhance their very own internal electrical power through that quantity. In the meantime though, I have actually possessed content from her, my cars and truck been wrecked, my total title consisting of all mid names and also information concerning me spread on facebook, my work called to let them know exactly what an evildoer I am, my information used for on the web shopping profiles (littlewoods) numerous online platforms commented upon along with my title and particulars and numerous outdated buddies contacted with information concerning me as well as the police delivered to my deal with harmful and unproven accusations that they have logged as phony calls. Also, Assets Level spreadings often move even more in multiples from initial spreading in comparison to Higher Turnout in risk-off scenarios (i.e., this is actually easier for a firm that trades at 20 basis indicate broaden to 80 basis points in a risk-off occasion rather than a company to go off 300 basis suggest 1,200 manner factors). Health professionals could give a tepid bathtub or, for patients which are actually also ill to leave the bed, wash the sick person's face, branches, neck as well as breast at the bedside utilizing a container of trendy water and a well-maintained wash fabric or bath sponge. The method presumes the target has these pictures initially, http://vitalityblog.info and also cavalierly dismisses that he or she is actually residing in a nightmarish hellscape damage that is in no chance re-experienced by handing the musical instrument of their fear to a confidential, unaccountable, probably grey alien Facebook worker. As Brian discussed, we had a few areas of option as well as some abnormal expenditures in the area we had actually prefer to provide even more shade on. Our team determine roughly $0.20 in headwinds in the area connected with business costs associated with get corrections, increased depreciation related to decreased possession lifestyle as well as in-service times and improved floor covering in enthusiasm expense. With an asking price around $200,000 to $250,000, NuVasive is very likely examining an addressable market from around $450 million, with prospective to expand from there as even more specialists shift to minimally-invasive methods as well as medical centers add added units.

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kdramabrainrotstation · 2 years

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Can i have your thoughts on Yohan having suicidal tendencies? I have never seen him that way but some people do. For me Yohan has always wanted to live, although he's not afraid of dying. Man has back up plan after back up plan to come out alive and on top. Am I missing something?

i don't suppose i've ever seen anything about this before. i'm surprised, honestly. i never once considered that yohan might have suicidal tendencies.

obvious cw for the topic of suicide here guys--you have been warned.

the short answer here is that i agree with you one hundred percent, and i have a lot of reasons for that. but i'll start with the other viewpoint first.

i imagine there could be a couple of different reasons for it. the first, and i'm guessing the most obvious, is the amount of trauma he's been through and the lack of faith he has in humanity. leaving gaon with an assignment that basically says 'your job isn't over, the system still hasn't been corrected' makes that much clear. yohan made his point but he already knew it was going to be recognized as a heinous form of retaliation rather than a message.

i'll definitely agree that because of everything he's gone through, he lives in a perpetual state of suffering. the kang mansion is a swirling vortex of bad memories, and he's constantly haunted by remembering his upbringing there. being in the study and all-but reliving the abuse he suffered as a child. in the bedroom, he dreams of his brother and the fire at the church. every time he sees minister cha or president heo or any of the other chaebols, he's reminded of how greedy and disgusting they have always been. while i personally don't think that would push him to suicide, i can see why it might be perceived that way.

another reason might be how self-sacrificing his behavior has looked at times. kang yohan is by no means reckless or impulsive, but he gives off that energy sometimes. racing alongside youngmin and then cutting him off under the blind assumption he wouldn't be hit. faking his death when he was arrested. most notably, the big scene he puts on at the end about blowing himself up with all the other rich people...definitely gives off the energy of someone who doesn't really care if they die.

maybe there are other reasons, but these are the only possibilities i could imagine.

personally, i don't think yohan has suicidal tendencies. i think that he has a darker outlook on life, but i also think yohan would see suicide as illogical. more importantly, the biggest reason i feel he wouldn't actually do anything suicidal:

elijah.

whether or not she shows it outright, elijah loves Yohan dearly. It's understandable why she found him suspicious at the beginning of the show, but he was obviously good to her before the fire--good enough that she went running for him to try and talk him into joining them in the church. that she lit up like a damn christmas tree every time he smiled at her. it's obvious he adores her. not only is she incredibly bright and intelligent for her age, but there isn't a doubt in my mind that isaac kept yohan very involved in her life up until his death. on top of that, she's like an extension of isaac in both blood and personality, and isaac had truly been the ray of light shining down upon him through the dark clouds encircling his life.

he has to stay alive for her. his whole plan at the end of the show was to fake his death for real and disappear to another country where he and elijah could focus just on her. where he could finally give her all the attention she both needs and deserves, and to start making up for years of time he'd made her feel alone following her father's death.

yohan is all she has left of her family.

second, gaon. whether you ship gahan or not, you can't deny that gaon quickly became a vital part of yohan's existence, and the other way around. gaon imported warmth and kindness into a home that had been bitterly cold for far too long. he set aside the opinions of others (the priest he visited at the beginning, often soohyun and jungho as well) in favor of trying to understand yohan. he taught yohan the importance of shared meals and all-but embraced elijah as a part of his life. he included ms. ji and made nights in that mansion bearable. on top of that, he learned to love yohan with all of his heart.

i find it difficult to imagine he would purposefully leave all of that behind.

kang yohan is very logic-driven, too. i can't imagine he would see the point in giving up like that. after all he's done over the years, it would feel like throwing all of that away. things are supposed to get better once he and elijah run away. he's very clearly looking forward to spending time with her in switzerland. he's also very clearly looking forward to seeing what gaon can do with the crumbs he left behind. both very good reasons to stay alive.

and lastly but certainly not least, yohan killing himself would greatly disappoint isaac, and even following his death, yohan very heavily considers his brother's viewpoint on things. isaac, even as a young boy, had fought for yohan to survive. ending all of that in a suicide would be a slap in the face. or at the very least, yohan would interpret it that way.

in conclusion, i definitely don't see yohan as having suicidal tendencies. he has suffered a great deal of trauma, has ptsd, and doesn't exactly has a glass-half-full impression on things, but he's not suicidal.

#the devil judge #kang yohan #cw suicide #suicide #tdj

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cryogenichusk · 7 years

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Depeche Mode Intensive Training

It’s pretty rare that we go to large concerts (i.e. “large” to us is anything with over 1,000 people). Notice we’re calling them “concerts” and not just “shows.” These are large scale, bordering on spectacle, musical events that usually include elaborate light shows, possible wardrobe changes, stage decorations/design, etc.

It’s been years since the last one, but it’s for a “bucketlist” band that we’re going to a concert like this later this year: Depeche Mode

This mixtape is intended to serve as an “intensive training” playlist that bridges two criteria: Depeche Mode songs that are considered in the canon and one’s that are specifically special/meaningful to us. In short: undisputed classics and songs which helped mold our perception of the group.

From there, we tried to branch out, as well as geek out, a bit more for a balanced selection of songs:

Range of discography - Songs from pretty much every era of the band

Energy and tempo - Dancefloor destroyers to downbeat, somber introspectors (yea, we made that word up)

Official releases vs. Rarities - The familiar versions of songs as well as some remixes and b-sides (as well as a live performance)

Of course there are going to be so many songs with the above criteria, we had to impose a 20-song cap. This meant loads of songs were left off that really pained us to not include, but we can’t go making a four hour mixtape. Without further ado, here’s the ‘Depeche Mode 2017 Intensive Training’ mixtape:

CH #79 - Depeche Mode 2k17 Intensive Training

1) Strangelove (Tim Simenon, Mark Saunders Remix)

An undisputed classic can almost elicit eyerolls for its “No duh” factor. That’s why it’s nice when a remix can keep the core of the song intact, with nice updated window dressing that doesn’t anchor the song into any one particular era. The intro sounds vaguely familiar, but it’s almost generic enough to not give away what you’re immediately hearing. As it builds the lightbulb of familiarity doesn’t as much instantly flick on as it slowly starts to illuminate... And then the moment comes (THE MOMENT) where it’s instantly recognizable in one second, at the 1min 51 second mark, and DING! It’s “Strangelove” and you’re pumped.

2) Behind The Wheel (Remix)

DM’s Music For The Masses was a flashpoint in the group’s career. Arenas to stadiums. Big to huge. One of the key singles from the 1987 record was “Behind The Wheel.” While the album also saw DM start to step out of the darker themes of their previous couple albums a bit more, this track kept the somber strains present, revolving around power, control, and relationship dynamics (and *foreshadowing* this won’t be the last time you’ll encounter elements of “Behind The Wheel” on this playlist). This is the 7-inch version of the song, which cuts about one minute out of the original, for better or worse, from the original album version

3) World In My Eyes

The general consensus is that Violator is probably Depeche Mode’s most popular record. The aforementioned Music For The Masses broke the band through to the mainstream, so in many ways Violator was their critical moment: could they maintain their craft beyond their relatively recent entry to stardom? Judging how ubiquitous the singles “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy The Silence” are, the answer has to be, “Yes.” However, we get as much or more excitement at hearing the kick-off song to the album. Maybe it’s because as the lead-off track the listener knows what other great songs lie ahead on the record (spoiler alert: one of said songs is further down the list). As such, it’s a great “Set-the-tone” track for the amazing collection of songs that follow it.

4) Love In Itself

...Speaking of songs to kick-off an album, ‘Love In Itself’ is a ‘beaut from the 1983 record Construction Time Again. The low-to-high variations in tempo between the verse and chorus is something the band rarely did, making it a little more unique than most of their other singles. Throw in the dour lyrics from Gahan and you’ve got a DM classic.

5) Happens All The Time

The first of a few b-sides on this playlist is from Delta Machine. The album sounds very modern (it came out in 2013) and with a generally more subdued tempo overall, but it’s lyrics and subject matter echo the more bleak tones of their mid-late 80s output, which got a lot of fans and critics jazzed. However, arguably our favorite song from this record wasn’t actually on the record; it’s one of the four b-sides: “Happens All The Time.” There’s something so deliciously eerie and foggy about the crawling pace, subtle synths and backing vocals... The layers really give this song a thick atmosphere.

6) Master And Servant

Like “Behind The Wheel” above, this song really hinges on the same basic precepts: an upbeat dancefloor destroyer with the subject matter revolving around power dynamics in life and relationships... except the lyrics sprinkle in just enough hints of S&M sexual kinkiness to give it an edge the group flirted with from time to time.

7) Stripped (7" Version)

So much power in this song. Its strength really rests in the universality of the lyrics: When no one is looking, who are you really? Without distracting influence, or need for validation or security, who ARE you? The question seems to be directed at whoever the protagonist is speaking to, but can also be self-reflection. The song plays out almost like a novel: a minimal theme sets the stage at the beginning and slowly grows. The simple premise is presented: “Let’s get away” (ie. Let’s remove the layers and societal filters we’ve acquired). And then Gahan comes sweeping in with such grandeur at the 41 second mark, “Let me see you stripped down to the bone...” The echoey, reverb makes the words nearly cinematic in their delivery.

8) Heaven (Justin Warfield Remix)

The second remix on this playlist is from Justin Warfield, of She Wants Revenge fame (sidenote: his band toured with DM when they released their first self-titled album; that must’ve been insane for a band’s first tour). This version of the song has an unusual tempo of about 100 bpms, where you feel like you’re just taking a stroll, plodding along, then things come into focus during the chorus and you also get a good dose of how well Martin and Dave can harmonize. Bonus points for the great keyboard stabs at the end of the song, 3min 40 sec.

9) Everything Counts (Live)

This song needs to be in everyone’s Depeche Mode ‘Best of’ list, full stop. It’s firmly in the “Classic” category without question. We already covered “Love In Itself” above from Construction Time Again, so to sprinkle a little more variety into this selection, we’re featuring the live version. Tell me you don’t get chills (with the volume turned way up) when the audience sing-along happens at the 4:55 mark.

10) I Feel Loved

We specifically remember when this record, Exciter, won us over. That summer when it was released (2001) we were on tour, a big two and a half month excursion across amphitheaters throughout the U.S., and laying the in dark in the bunk of the bus at night, this song just clicked. This album came at a tumultuous time for the band, having released the most derided album of their career (Ultra) just prior. While the songs reclaimed a bit more of the electronic foundation of previous records, albeit with updated technology, the spirit of the record also felt like a step in the right direction with its plaintive yearning. What really makes this song are the quasi-psychedelic interpretive keyboard warbling just after the chorus - this kaleidoscope of sound really translated the rollercoaster feeling of being on tour for us.

11) Shake The Disease

Coming out in 1985, ‘Shake The Disease’ has all the ingredients for a DM classic. This one opting for mid-pace tempo and emotional heft, putting all it’s weight into catchy melodies and lyrics of emotional befuddlement and relationship woes. For years we were (maybe still are?) obsessed with Hooverphonic’s cover of this song.

12) In Your Room

First of all, it needs to be said: the album version of this song and the single version are basically two completely different songs (also: the single version is terrible and this one rules). Here’s the deal, like talked about above, Violator is typically revered as the most popular and/or fan favorite album of DM. Released in 1993, Songs Of Faith And Devotion lands in the tumult of alt-rock and grunge’s ascendancy. So the record is somewhat tainted by living in the shadow of its predecessor, and certainly isn’t helped by the musical climate of the time (ie. there are some rock leanings/influence - the aforementioned single version of this song take those influences to disastrous levels). But there are some great songs on the album (hint you’ll hear another one further down). “In Your Room,” in particular, does an awesome job of layering a swirling mass of synths and textures into a dreamlike haze the band doesn’t do too often. When coupled with lyrics that have a real feeling of space and dimension and place, it can really transport the listener.

13) A Question Of Time (Remix)

From arguably the apex of their darker mid-to-late 80s period, Black Celebration, released in 1986, has a lot of amazing songs (we already discussed “Stripped” above). This remix of “A Question Of Time” is essentially the 7-inch version of the song, just slightly faster than the album version; ergo, it’s a dance rager at 140 bpms.

14) Slow

Talk about truth in advertising - this song is slow. But it is damn good. The moodiness is thick and really sells this one as a sensual slowburn (pun INTENDED).

15) One Caress

Another one from Songs Of Faith And Devotion, but this one threw fans and critics alike a big curveball: a purely stringed song featuring nothing but orchestration and Gahan’s vocals. The band had only done something similar once or twice before (”Little 15″ comes to mind) and is reminiscent of Morrissey’s “Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together.” However, this is executed at such an expert level, no one can deny the songwriting talents of DM, and this musical divergence proves that genre or style are by no means a limitation or challenge to their abilities. This song is darkly catchy with it’s shadowy stringed melodies and lyrics about temptation and obsession.

16) Peace

Depeche Mode’s 2009 album, Sounds Of The Universe is a unique standout in their catalog. It’s probably the most modern and digital sounding record they’ve released. The blips, bleeps and glitchy electronic framework definitely make it a more space-aged sounding outlier in their discography. These qualities might not endear it to many fans (including the uncharacteristically positive lyrics), but they come together nicely on the song “Peace” where the sterile synths sound like something pulled from DM’s first or second record, played at half-speed with futuristic equipment/technology.

17) Route 66

A bit of nostalgia colors this song, but let’s back up... Yes, this is a cover of the rhythm and blues standard of the same name. It also happens to be the b-side that accompanied “Behind the Wheel” (see higher up on the list), which is interesting because the band deftly splices in the key melody of “Behind The Wheel” smack dab into the middle of “Route 66.” In our minds, this makes them almost companion songs, or siblings, because of their multiple connections. What also makes this track unique is that it sounds like the band is just having FUN. There’s so much earnest emotion throughout all of their works that it’s worth mentioning that while this is a cover song, DM genuinely sounds like they’re just enjoying the heck out of it. Also: if you’re hitting the road this summer, this song is a crucial roadtrip track to include - the rhythm and quick guitar riff just beg to to have the windows down while cruising down the highway. Oh, and about the nostalgia: if you’ve danced in an small town underground party with dozens of other cool kids raging hard on the dancefloor, you’d be partial to this song also.

18) Cover Me

From the newest album, Spirit. This track is a dynamic gem. Starts out slow, somber and minimal with Gahan sounding as fatigued as the synths riding in tandem. Martin Gore again shows how his harmonizing with Dave can be so subtle and yet very effective. The lyrics paint a unique picture, within the framework of sobering relationship “What if’s,” - what if things were different, what if another time, what if another life? Then at the halfway point, the song turns a corner, Dave is done singing and now DM takes the listener on a journey that’s very much an exercise in creating the feeling of space (similar to “In Your Room” discussed above), evolving, growing and pulsing. The jury is still out on the overall summation of Spirit, but we’re confident this is our favorite song from the album.

19) Clean

Self-reflection (and sometimes self-flagellation) are usual themes in Depeche Mode’s oeuvre. “Clean” takes this topic and addresses it probably the most directly of the band’s career. It’s a safe assumption that tacked on to the end of Violator didn’t really give this song the platform it deserves and is probably overlooked as a result. Hearing Converge cover this song on their 2001 split with Hellchild reinvigorated our interest in the song at the time (and kudos to them for making the song familiar and yet their own). Truth be told, it’s a great album closer.

20) Lillian

Playing the Angel is one of the more pop/radio-oriented albums DM has put out. Still great songs, but missing a bit of that dark edged grit musically. However, this came at a formative time in life when being nomadic made even some of DM’s more prosaic songs meaningful. But, we’re being pretty critical. This song could almost have been replaced by “Suffer Well” from the same album, but in the end this song feels more appropriate. It’s a great way to end this list and a mixtape closer: it’s a balance of everything you’ve read about above, revisiting the classic tropes of DM. Somewhere in the mid-pace range, not too fast or slow, it’s catchy without being mindless or mundane, the lyrics tread the tried and true well the band draws from: love, obsession, helplessness and melancholy. It tapers off with a skilled fade-out, and there you have it:

20 Depeche Mode songs in 1hr 33min, covering a lot of ground, some biased, some unimpeachable, and the rest is for the fans to debate. Cheers!

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depechemodespiritera · 6 years

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It's a position that he continues to hold to this day, having steered the band to over 100 million record sales and cementing Depeche Mode's status as one of the biggest touring acts in the world. This year the group, numbering Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher, released its 14th studio album, Spirit, and began its record-breaking Global Spirit Tour. Having sold out stadium and arena dates around the world, including four nights at Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl, 2018 sees the tour move onto South America.

"This is a band that continues to grow and have huge appeal internationally," the publicity-shy Kessler -- who has also worked with Sting, Neil Young, Tracy Chapman, Rod Stewart and The Weeknd -- tells Billboard ahead of being honored at the Music Managers Forum and Featured Artist Coalition's sixth annual Artist & Manager Awards, held tonight (Nov. 14) in London.

Billboard: Going back to the start of your association with Depeche Mode, how did you make the leap from tour accountant to band manager?

Jonathan Kessler: I came out of business school and almost fell into the music business. It was not really my driving passion then. I started to work with Depeche purely as a tour accountant and as I started to do more and more with them my role increased. I would ask, 'Who's taking care of this? Or who's taking care of liability insurance?' Often no one was, so I started taking care of it. [Becoming manager] was the obvious evolution really. It was just a question of when could I bring up the M word. Because they were self-managed and they prided themselves on that -- but they weren't really. So, it just was a discussion between us to say, 'This is what I'm doing. Let's call it what it is and formalize that relationship.' Obviously, through the years a certain level of trust had grown between us. That doesn't appear right away. I remember when I first started to work them they were a very insular band. They were understandably scared of foreigners and strangers – as is true of many bands in their infancy.

Has your foregrounding in business been an important factor in helping grow them into one of the world's biggest touring acts?

Definitely. 35 years ago, the world of touring was like the Wild West. There were very loose deals in place with promoters, which were settled on the night of the show. A lot of my role then was trying to figure out what was what. Who was taking what and were the promoters that we were doing business with taking advantage? That's changed quite a bit in today's day and age. It's become a lot more corporate. A lot more sanitized and properly run financially, to a certain extent.

What do you regard as being key to Depeche Mode's rise to stardom and lasting popularity?

At the start, it was the creativity of the band. The music that they were creating was forging new ground. One thing as a band that we are very strict at maintaining to this day is being true to ourselves and doing what we want to do. I kept that going and as we progressed together I gave them the space to just focus on the music, while I take care of everything else around them. In a band that stays together that long and keeps developing often differences between members occur. There's many stories of bands not getting along and not being able to settle those differences. And so, like in any dysfunctional family, those things have to be mediated. I think I've played a large role in helping that flow through.

As a manager, how do you help overcome those differences and ensure the group stays together?

When the differences are meaningful and pertain to important things artistically they should be expressed and confronted head on. That friction is what makes a band creative, keeps them on edge and keeps them developing and looking to do new things. Yet, often some of the differences or challenges that occur between them aren't that meaningful and get blown out of proportion. One needs to play those down and allow the ones that are serious to live and be attacked. You can't sweep everything under the rug. Eventually it is going to explode and combust. So that was really a role where I could step in and try and broker to allow things that were meaningful to play out. That continues to be the case.

The band's past problems with drug and alcohol abuse has been well-documented, particularly Dave Gahan's struggles with heroin addiction in the mid-1990s. Did you fear for their future during that time?

Those are just life problems. I refer to them now as the experimental years. I think that's a nice way of putting it. They were their experimental years and thank God that they lived through them and made it… As with any dysfunctional family, it has its moments of difficulties and challenges. But in essence [all three members] have a great relationship. There's a huge amount of respect, love and kinship between them. When you spend that much time together in a high-pressure cooker environment obviously things will get tense and difficult at times. It's inevitable. The challenge is just don't let it overflow, right?

The Global Spirit tour looks set to be the band's biggest ever. How has the band continued to grow its live business when so many of their peers from the 1980s have faded?

The live show itself is just fantastic. Dave is really one of the best frontmen and he and Martin play off each other wonderfully. The fan base is very dedicated. It takes ownership of the band, stays very loyal and therefore comes back. We are now seeing the second generation of fan's children [coming to shows]. There was also a lot of hard work done in our early days of touring in different territories. In the early days, we went to the Eastern European territories a lot and to this day that's one of the biggest markets for us. We played Berlin on the East side when the wall was up. We often played countries often like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia when it was still Yugoslavia. And in those markets, we now have an incredibly fruitful touring business. This is a band that continues to grow and have huge appeal internationally.

You rarely give interviews and have continually remained behind the scenes throughout your management career. Is that through personal choice?

It's definitely a conscious decision. It's not at all a reflection of my character. I'm actually quite flamboyant. But I do think that it really is about the band. I have nothing but admiration for their tenacity, perseverance and above all their creativity and artistic ability. The songs that they write, the music they create and their tenacity to keep going at it is formidable. They deserve the attention as they're the ones on the stage. It's their names on the marquee -- and it always should be. Not mine. I'm just there to push it forward and help them facilitate what they want to do.

Spirit has received some of the band's best reviews in years. Were you and the band pleasantly surprised by the critical and commercial success of the record?

The nice thing that has happened along this route is that we have continued to go up at a 45-degree angle. Recently we have taken a leap off that 45 degrees and taken a higher rise up. What's also nice to see is that the band is being recognized for being pioneers in the synthesizer and remix world. Even in the U.K. press, which is perhaps the hardest barometer, they are receiving their deserved credit finally. But it really does stem from staying true to what we do and not trying to appeal to the trends of today.

Do you have a favorite album or period in the band's history?

Personally, no. I just think it's a nice evolution. I recently saw Billboard listed the top 20 hits and I was shocked by how many there were. I guess when you're in it every day and in the mud and the thick of it, you sometimes don't quite realize the big body of work they have created. It's hit after hit after hit.

Given the complexities of the modern music business, do you think that the role of a music manager is more important than ever today?

I think it has become more elevated, yes. You have to be more of a quarterback yourself, as opposed to the record company or the promoter. We have a fantastic partnership with Sony. A fantastic partnership with Live Nation and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. But you still have to develop your own opportunities. It's a busier, louder, noisier world today than it was 30 odd years ago and you have to try to cut through the clutter of everything that's out there. One of the biggest challenges we have is just how do we let people know that we are releasing a new record and are still touring.

Following the success of Spirit, have thoughts already turned to the next album?

Right now, we're just focused on touring and we have a hell of a lot of touring still to do. We have weeks of touring in Europe plus another month of touring in South America, plus more to come. So that's pretty grueling and taxing. The band plays for over two hours every night. It's never a dialed-in performance, so that's where all the energy goes right now.

This year saw Depeche Mode celebrate their 37th year together. Can you envisage them reaching them reaching their 50th anniversary?

I don't see why not. They're in their mid-fifties and young and healthy. We'll see. They never say. 'We're going to go on [till a certain date]'. It's always a question of, 'Let's just see what happens and not plan for the future.' And inevitably Dave or Martin will send the other a piece of music, they get smitten by it and it all starts again.

#depeche mode #spirit era #jonathan kessler

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depechemodespiritera · 7 years

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Tell Me About It: Dave Gahan – “‘Why is your music so depressing?’ is a really lame question”

The Depeche Mode singer on crappy gigs, addiction and escaping death... twice

Words by David Zammitt Photos by Anton Corbijn

Dave Gahan is stationed in the basement of the swanky Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge. As I wait outside his room in music journalist purgatory, waiting for an interview with some other mag to round up, I’m told that it shouldn’t be long but, well, unfortunately, Dave is enjoying the conversation so much that he wants to keep chatting. Maybe we’ll get on really well too, I think.

When I am finally beckoned in, Gahan welcomes me to the conference room that’s become his office for the day. He is warm, full of smiles, and even offers me a smoothie. Radioactive green, it’s a sign of the journey from Gahan’s dark days in the late ’80s and, well, most of the ’90s. It’s fair to say that the rider requests for a man who’s come through heroin addiction and bladder cancer is a little different these days. With hair slicked back, pencil moustache neatly groomed and a silver skull ring nestling on his middle knuckle, it’s hard to equate him with the 19-year-old Epping boy in the oversized suit who nervously bopped his way through ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’.

Of course, a lot of well-documented water has passed under the bridge since Gahan and Depeche Mode arrived with the synthpop agenda-setter ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. Fourteen studio albums is a pretty solid achievement in itself, but when you hear the context of the hurdles that had to be negotiated in order to do so, it pulls the feat into sharper focus. Through ailing health, substance abuse and a couple of run-ins with the law, Depeche Mode have somehow stayed united. Depsite the chaotic highs and creativity-sapping lows, the release of their latest LP, ‘Spirit,’ continues a run of at least one album every four years for the last 35. Impossibly, Depeche Mode have become one of British music’s most reliable forces.

As Gahan speaks in staccato – all full-stops and short and rapid-fire sentences – he flits from topic to topic and I may as well have left my nice, crisp A4 sheet of questions at home, because I barely say anything. Jumping from the band’s recent gig at Glasgow’s Barrowlands to the merits of theatre and the ethic behind Depeche Mode’s ‘depressing’ sound in the first five breakneck minutes, at 54 Gahan is full of energy. But while it can be hard to keep track, Gahan’s passion is the thread that ties our conversation together.

“The Barrowlands is a smelly, dirty old venue”

There’s not many of them left like that. We just played there for BBC 6 Music festival, but we first played there in the early ’80s – someone told me it was 1984. I remember at the time it was pretty heaving. The stage moves a bit because the floor moves a bit. So once it gets going…

It was fun to do that show last week, which was maybe an hour long – much shorter than the two-hour show that we usually do. I got a couple of texts from Bobby Gillespie that said: “perfect time.” For performing, an hour is the perfect time.

We had a beautiful few days in Glasgow. To be in England or Scotland or Ireland and it to be good weather, you actually get to see how beautiful it is, really. And I love the people up there. People in the hotel and on the street – everywhere. Good people!

“‘Why is your music so depressing?’ is a really lame question”

I recently saw the play Buried Child by Sam Shepard. I love all Sam Shepard’s stuff. They’re usually based in the American heartland and what it’s really like – not the American Dream. Buried Child is about a child who wasn’t wanted and ended up being buried in the garden and haunts the family, spiritually. So everything they do for their drunken lives is haunted by that. Some people would say that it’s a miserable story, but stories like that, to me, are real life.

It’s like, the question I’ve had to answer many, many times, is where people are like, ‘Why is your music so doomy?’ First of all, it’s a really lame question, but the answer is always the same – ‘Well, I don’t find it like that.’ I just never have. I don’t. I get that some of the subject matter is quite dark, and musically it can be quite dark, but I’ve always felt that if the lyric was really black and if we were going into some weird, dark place, there’s a melody or a sound or something there that lifts you out of that. Like in a good book, or a film – there’s a story there.

I tend to dwell there quite a lot. And it’s OK because I find that it’s the only place you can find any real light anyway. You’ve got to dig deep because all the surface bullshit – all this stuff [he lifts up his iPhone and shakes it] – is where we seem to waste our time.

“We still care about reviews”

Of course we care. The thing about reviews is that someone told me a long time ago that if you believe the good ones you’ve got to believe the bad. There’s always a bit in both and it’s all opinions.

What I liked about one review I read of the Barrowlands show was that the person was actually reviewing the sentiment in the feeling in the moment, and how they felt. And that was undeniable! If he had said anything else about that night – that he didn’t like my trousers or something – it would have been ridiculous because it was a special night. But they’re not all like that – trust me!

Sometimes someone will give me a newspaper in the morning and we’re off to the next gig, and I know it’s been a shit show the night before, or that it wasn’t quite right. The moment wasn’t really there, and someone’s seen through it. And you read it and you’re still like, ‘Fuck you!’ But they can’t all be gems. Over the years you learn that [once in a while] you have this special feeling and you look around at each other and you’re all floating on air, but most of the time you’re getting through a song and you’re thinking about something else. Well, not most of the time. But quite often towards the end of the show I’ll be thinking about whether there’s room service.

“I remember launching six or seven bottles of wine at the wall because I couldn’t drink it”

There was one time when we made the decision not to tour and that was with the album ‘Ultra’ [1997] because I definitely was not healthy enough to tour. I was trying to convince everybody that I was, and I had all good intentions but, put it this way, six months into the recording of the album, after a big session we did in New York, I went back to L.A. and then stuff happened and I ended up in jail [Gahan was arrested after overdosing on a speedball at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in 1996]. So it really was a good decision.

After that album I think we put out a greatest hits – 1998, I’m thinking. And we did some shows. For me, that was the best and the worst tour we’ve ever done because I don’t think I was in any of those performances. It was all new for me. I was no longer drinking any alcohol or using any drugs and I was like an open wound; a bag of nerves trying to fake it ‘til I made it. I had no business being on the road and I had a few moments in dressing rooms. I remember launching six or seven bottles of wine at the wall because I couldn’t drink it. That was my share and if I wasn’t going to be able to drink it then it was going to go against the wall. While the band were all in the dressing room as well. It must’ve been quite scary, thinking about it. I was not happy at this idea of being sober and that I would have to do this for the rest of my life if I wanted to keep on living. And that’s nearly 20 years ago, which is incredible in itself, although it’s not been without its bumps and bruises along the way. It’s been a real mind opener – much more than any drugs or alcohol.

“Physically, I couldn’t sing for longer than five minutes”

I remember being back at my home in L.A. after being arrested. I got a phone call – and I never picked up the phone – and it was Martin [Gore], kinda angry and kinda pissed off that we were in the middle of recording an album and I was not going to be able to leave Los Angeles for two years. If I got into trouble, I was going to jail. So they carried on working on stuff and then created sessions for when I was allowed out of this place I was in, which I’d checked myself into. I ended up staying there for six months – I was terrified of going back home because I knew what I was going to do. I made some good friends there and I went to the studio with someone who was watching over my shoulder, but it saved my life.

I couldn’t sing at that point. I mean physically, I couldn’t sing for longer than five minutes. And it was not good. There were times when I thought I was good during the first half of the making of that album, but I was probably high. I thought I was Frank Sinatra when I was up at the mic, but listening back it was like, ‘Jesus!’. So they made me work with this amazing vocal coach, Evelyn. She would only work with me – because I was a real scumbag at the time – if I would go to this church with her in downtown L.A. in a pretty rough neighbourhood in Inglewood, somewhere where she would do this thing every Sunday working with the choir. She said: ‘You come with me and sing with the whole group; you’ve gotta be part of a team!’ She was so nice and gentle with me and gave me a lot of her time. She kinda brought my voice back to me. And that album got finished.

“My wife was like: ‘What are you looking at pictures of your tumour for?’”

During the making of ‘Sounds of the Universe’ [2009] I’d not been feeling good. I had no energy a lot of the time. I would have enough energy to do the sessions in the studio and I’d get home at night and say to the wife that I was so tired. I was kind of crashing out at 9 in the evening, and I wasn’t really telling the guys. But then it all made sense when I was diagnosed.

I used to say to, Jen, my wife, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do these shows.’ So then we were in Athens and I was having excruciating pain in my gut. Well, it felt like my gut but it wasn’t. So that night the doctor came to the dressing room, five minutes before we were due on stage. I’d been throwing up a bit – I hadn’t been talking about that. Little bit of blood in my urine – I hadn’t been talking about that. I just thought all these things were wear and tear.

But I got rushed to hospital and while the doctor was doing an ultrasound he looked at me and looked at the screen again. I said: ‘I know I’m not pregnant!’ and he said ‘Well, I see something and I have to get someone else in.’ So I said: ‘What do you see?’ and he said: ‘I see a shadow.’ I’ve heard that in movies. It just so happened that there was an oncologist there and I got on the MRI and they said that they could do the surgery there and then. You have a sac in your bladder and you have another sac on the inner sac, and the cancer hadn’t got through the walls yet. It’s an amazing looking thing! My wife was like: ‘What are you looking at pictures of your tumour for?’ But it looked like a sea urchin with all these alien tentacles! It’s an amazing thing. But if they go undiagnosed and it goes into other organs you’re done, really.

“We seem to be pretending we’re not, but we’re fucking lost!”

‘Spirit’ is more of a social outlook on humanity itself, and we’re lost. We seem to be pretending we’re not, but we’re fucking lost! It’s a bit apocalyptic and bit post-apocalyptic in places, this record; ‘Cover Me’ being post-apocalyptic, ‘Fail’ being now, ‘Poison Heart’ being, you know – ‘You’re the devil and we all know it, but you’re in power!’ And then there are songs like ‘Going Backwards’ or ‘Scum’, which are just horrified at humanity, at ourselves.

Where’s the spirit? Where’s the spirit in really caring? And people say, you know, ‘It’s easy for you guys in your fancy houses,’ but like Martin has said, just because you’ve had some success it doesn’t mean you have to stop caring about what you see and feel. And you do the best you can. The way we can portray how we feel is through music, through art. And ultimately we’re here to entertain you but to maybe entertain you with a sense of reflecting. This is not a record that’s ramming something down your throat. This is not Billy Bragg.

(via Tell Me About It: Dave Gahan – “‘Why is your music so depressing?’ is a really lame question” - Loud And Quiet)

#dave gahan #depeche mode #spirit era

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