Sure, sure. David Bowie is back in 2013 but the world doesn’t revolve solely around the orbit of the Thin White One. OMD have not been resting on their laurels since making the largely wonderful “History Of Modern” album in 2010. Their new album has been known as “English Electric” for a while now and more details were released today for the waiting masses. The tentative cover below has surfaced in the eddies and currents of OMD fandom for some months now, but today marks the first time that the actual track listing has been made public knowledge.
UK | CD | 2013
OMD: English Electric UK CD [2013]
- Please Remain Seated
- Metroland
- Night Café
- The Future Will Be Silent
- Helen of Troy
- Our System
- Kissing The Machine
- Decimal
- Stay With Me
- Dresden
- Atomic Ranch
- Final Song
The first single will be “Metroland” and its released on March 25th. The band have been quite open in wanting this album to be more experimental than the preceding “History Of Modern.” While HOM had its share of top grade OMD material, it was also saddled with girl band cast-offs of Andy McCluskey and a lead off single that was so banal as to kneecap the album’s initial momentum. One hopes that “Metroland” will be more intriguingly left-field in its approach.
As for the titles, they seem to touch upon tried and true OMD tropes suggesting a mélange of the austere clinicality of “Dazzle Ships” [“Please Remain Seated”] and the Romanticism of “Architecture + Morality” [“Helen Of Troy”]. With perhaps a side trip into the cover of “Crush” and its Edward Hopper pastiche [“Night Café”].
The band have revealed that the album will be available on April 8th, 2013 on “deluxe CD+DVD, heavyweight vinyl LP, collectors’ tin boxset as well as digitally.” The exact granularity of these formats remains to be seen. I’ll assume that the collector’s box will contain the full monty, like last time. It was an acceptable $75 in price but my budget is far tighter this year than during the salad days of 2010, so we’ll adopt a wait-and-see approach.
The band spent much of 2012 recording and mixing the release and the full four piece is reputed to have been more integrated into the proceedings than on the last album. “History of Modern” was an album worked on remotely by its members and after the fact, that approach was seen to be limiting, so the choice was made to write and record more in concert with this album. One of “History Of Modern’s” highlights was “New Holy Ground” which was only whipped up quickly when Paul and Andy were sketching ideas in a room together the one time they collaborated in person during that album’s writing.
Now that the band know that they can make an album on their own, and tour it [even in America – twice!!] to a profitable conclusion, the greater emphasis on experimentation “English Electric” is said to have bodes well for the band who are finally freed from the tyranny of competing in the charts. Today marked the debut of a video for the track “Decimal” with a Flash-based, info-graphic/UI video by designer Henning M. Lederer. The video is only hosted currently at that place with the videos, and I don’t link to that place, so you’re on your own if you want to sample a glimpse of the new OMD. I’m content to wait until April. I’m sure it will be here before I even have the money scrounged up to buy it!
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Post-Punk Monk 
Only because my blogger list takes me to Mr. Vero’s space first, I’ve already commented on your comment on the album. But I am really looking forward to English Electric, probably more than any other release I am aware of for 2013. The fact that experimentation will lead the proceedings has me “stoked” honestly (yeah I have been living in FL for while now). I’m fascinated by the number of bands taking on a really electronic form of pop over the last 2 years and the fact that one of the great originators is still up for more feels really natural. OMD, John Foxx, more please!
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“but the world doesn’t revolve solely around the orbit of the Thin White One.” I BEG TO DIFFER.
Aw, just joshin’. I enjoyed HoM a lot but did feel like it was a reworking of their favourite used riffs a bit (probably time for a re-listen, actually!). I’m looking forward to seeing where they’re heading off to this time. And I really hope they tour America (and Canada!) again, that would lock in the notion that 2013 is turning out to be a gangbuster year.
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Interesting to see the resurrection of ‘Kissing The Machine’, which originally appeared on Elektric Music’s 1993 album ‘Esperanto’ and which Andy McCluskey sang on. Wonder how different it might turn out.
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VersionCrazy – I loved “Esperanto.” It was definitely my favorite album of 1993! I couldn’t help but notice that the lead synth patch on “History Of Modern’s” “RFWK” was eerily similar to the one on “Kissing The Machine!” Truthfully, I didn’t see anything wrong with the original, but on the other hand, I can’t imagine them ruining the track, either. We’ll just have to wait and see. I wouldn’t balk at Karl Bartos perhaps getting his hands on an OMD single remix, either!
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Speaking of Bartos, I am looking forward to his album later this spring. I am pulling for some pure synth work and hoping he has thrown off the guitar pop that infected his work in the years after working with Electronic…
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Echorich – Judging from “Atomium” this would not be a problem. Funny, but I never bought anything of his after the release of “Esperanto” and its singles. Even though it was a huge favorite in its day. What I’ve read about his second album was pretty amazing though. And in a bad way! I have a Billie Ray Martin DJ set somewhere with tracks from his much more amazing third album and I think it needs to get in the Record Cell as soon as I get that injection of VC mooolah!
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The Karl Bartos album ‘Communication’ is well recommended – he had dropped the guitar-oriented slant and IMHO it out-Kraftwerked his ex-employers whose own Tour De France Soundtracks was around the same time.
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It is an updated version and will even come with added Claudia Brücken goodness – details here: http://www.omd.uk.com/story/kissing_the_machine
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VersionCrazy – Tut, tut! I’m all over the news. I skulk around the OMD forum a few times a day and have already commented there!
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