Dave Gahan
Paper Monsters

(Reprise)

As the frontman for Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan spent the 1980s fusing synth-pop with grim lyrics, creating a soundtrack for adolescents around the globe. By the 1990s, the band had become a massive alternative rock act, but the departure of keyboardist Alan Wilder in 1995 as well as a suicide attempt by the heroin-addicted Gahan signaled the extreme internal difficulties that the group was facing. Nevertheless, Depeche Mode released a few more albums, scoring several hits in the process, before deciding to take an indefinite hiatus so Dave Gahan and guitarist Martin Gore could each pursue their own endeavors.

Paper Monsters marks Gahan’s debut as a solo artist and as a songwriter, and it’s full of the type of reflective confessionals one might expect to hear. Naturally, the lyrics are centered around addiction, covering everything from Gahan’s rock-bottom lows to the highs of his subsequent recovery and redemption. Musically, the album draws from Depeche Mode’s sound, though it also tosses around splashes of U2’s psychedelic R&B as well as the sort of dreamy, ambient textures that blur the line between Pink Floyd and The Cure. Good as this may seem, Paper Monsters doesn’t hold together quite as well as it should for Gahan. Undoing the momentum built by the heady swirl of Dirty Sticky Floors, Bottle Living, and Black & Blue Again are far too many slow, unaffecting numbers. As a result, the album, unfortunately, becomes largely a forgettable foray that frequently fails to resonate. ½