A perhaps unexpected union between Vince Clarke (Erasure), Neil Arthur (Blancmange) and Benge, Doublespeak captured the public imagination with their debut track – a leftfield take on Fad Gadget’s ‘Back To The Nature’. Heralded with attention spanning The Quietus, MOJO, NME, The Line of Best Fit and more, it put the accelerator on anticipation for their self-titled debut album which follows on May 29th. Doublespeak now share their second track, a new interpretation of the David Essex classic ‘Rock On’. Listen HERE.
Released in 1973, the original ‘Rock On’ shattered the mould. Produced by Jeff ‘War Of The Worlds’ Wayne, it possessed more space, echo and feedback than instrumentation, no guitar or keyboards, making it the original Anglo-American dub record. Vince and Benge transpose Herbie Flowers’ original double tracked bass into an electrostatic void and Neil’s powerful vocals stand out as he audibly relishes getting his teen idol on. As the trio prove throughout their upcoming debut album, they find the sweet spot between reinventing the song while respecting the traits that made the original so memorable.
Vince Clarke says, “I bought this single. Still love it, and I love David Essex, the movies, the music, everything about him was fantastic. ‘Rock On’ was such a weird, interesting production. There was nothing like that on the radio back then. Still isn’t. So we thought, we have to have a go at this.”
Neil Arthur adds, “It was really, really good fun putting this together. It was one of the earliest we did.”
Benge comments, “This was the first one I got involved with. Neil’s vocal on this is just amazing.”
‘Rock On’ is backed with the band’s take on lost 80s band The Sounds’ and their single, ‘I Just Can’t Escape Myself’. Bringing a sparse,‘Warm Leatherette’ intensity to the song.
As the trio allude to, ‘Rock On’ was the moment that got the Doublespeak album started. It is a record seven years in the making, one in which songs both rare and renowned are transposed into analogue electronics, in each case their humanity unlocked by Neil’s uncommonly empathic delivery. Split almost evenly between songs from the postpunk netherworld brought blinking into the light (Fad Gadget, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, Young Marble Giants) and pop radio monsters ushered back down a dark stairway into the club (ABBA, David, Essex, The Carpenters), ‘Doublespeak’ amounts to a shadow autobiography of Vince, Neil and Benge’s musical education: the great human songbook, synthesised.
The album is available to pre-order from the official store, with physical formats in the shape of black vinyl, green ripple vinyl, CD and cassette. Lexer Music offers a green and black ripple vinyl, with a bonus CD single featuring two exclusive original Doublespeak tracks.
Comments are closed.