DoubleSpeak - DoubleSpeak (Vinyl LP)

Doublespeak is the self-titled debut from a trio of British electronic veterans, Vince Clarke, Neil Arthur and Benge, released by London Records on 29 May 2026. Clarke co-founded Depeche Mode before going on to form Yazoo and Erasure. Arthur is the voice of Blancmange, whose path crossed Clarke's in the early eighties when Blancmange supported Depeche Mode. Benge, real name Ben Edwards, is an electronic producer who has produced most of Blancmange's recent albums and works alongside Arthur in their duo Fader.

The album grew out of Arthur sending Clarke cover song suggestions, an idea the pair picked at on and off for years without any fixed plan. It only became an album once Benge came on board to finish the tracks and pull the sounds together at his studio. All three worked remotely, and the record was made without them ever being in the same room.

All eleven tracks are covers, drawn from the late 1960s onwards and split into three loose camps. There is post-punk and early electronics, with Fad Gadget's Back To Nature, Young Marble Giants' Brand New Life, The Sound's I Can't Escape Myself and Day Breaks, Night Heals by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental. There are pop standards, ABBA's The Visitors, The Carpenters' Goodbye To Love, David Essex's Rock On and Gentle On My Mind, written by John Hartford and made famous by Glen Campbell. And there are later, lesser-known picks, The Magnetic Fields' Smoke And Mirrors, Ed Dowie's Richard! and Laptop's End Credits. Much of the post-punk material was unfamiliar to Clarke, who has said he approached those songs the way he would a remix or a fresh demo rather than trying to improve on the original. Back To Nature, the opener and lead single, was a 1979 Fad Gadget single and the second ever release on Mute Records. Everything is built from analogue synthesisers and drum machines, mixed by Benge and mastered by James Trevascus, with sleeve design by Neil Arthur and Paul Agar.