Kurt Uenala and Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan join forces for new EP

Kurt Uenela by Einar Snorri 2022 R1-06361-0033 (1)

Music

Kurt Uenala, better known as Null + Void, has teamed up with Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan for a new EP titled Manuscript.

Having previously worked at Gahan’s studio and travelled with Depeche Mode in the past, Kurt was attuned to Gahan’s writing rituals, usually jotted down in his notebook.

Kurt eventually asked what he was writing down during one of their check-ins, and Gahan disclosed they were general thoughts and feelings which likely wouldn’t be seen by anybody else.

After some persuasion, Gahan recorded some of the poems and sent them to Kurt who began working on what would become Manuscript. Riffing off the tone of Gahan’s voice, he used his Oberheim synth to create a bed of ambient, reverb-heavy soundscapes in his his studio on an Icelandic Fjörd.

Speaking about the prose, Gahan explains that: “I’m not sure why, or when, exactly, I wrote these short pieces. I knew they were never to be songs. I do know that they were written when I was alone. Sometimes in a hotel room. Where? I can’t recall. Sometimes standing by the ocean, or walking the beach in winter. Sometimes on the empty streets of New York City, during the lock- down. Always whilst feeling the beauty, power, and loneliness of a world beyond me.”

Under the name Null + Void, Kurt has worked on collaborations with the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Moby, John Grant, The Kills and Woodkid. Dave Gahan has been the lead vocalist of pioneering synth-pop group Depeche Mode since 1980, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 as part of the group.

Tracklist
01. Cracks Are Showing
02. Longing
03. Get Out
04. G.O.D.
05. I Think Not

Listen to ‘G.O.D.’