Vince Clarke has shared “White Rabbit”, the latest track to be released from his forthcoming debut solo album, Songs of Silence, a 10-track lyric-less album of ambient music. The album will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally via Mute on November 17th, 2023. 

As the Ivor Novello-winning songwriter behind many chart-topping Pop songs as the co-founder of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode, Clarke has, unbelievably, waited until now to embark on a solo release.

“White Rabbit” comes accompanied by an animation by Daniele Arcuri that “examines the darkness surrounding our relationship with technology.”

Daniele Arcuri explains:

I wanted to openly address the themes of hyper-connectivity, anxiety, apathy, and voyeurism towards others’ suffering. This video is a bold and thought-provoking reflection on how technology is eerily shaping our existence, and  challenges viewers to contemplate the human cost of an ever-connected world.

The album was recorded in Clarke’s home studio in New York, and features photography and artwork by the award-winning Magnum photojournalist Eugene Richards. Work on the album began as a distraction during lockdown as Clarke experimented with Eurorack, a modular synthesizer format with seemingly limitless configurations.

Clarke adds:

I could have gone on forever, I could have not stopped. I was enjoying the process so much and wasn’t thinking about anyone else hearing it. But hearing it develop in my studio, in my head, learning new tricks – that’s been the best thing about this. I was in a state of shock, actually, when Mute said they wanted to release this album.

Vince Clarke’s debut solo performances will include a Rough Trade East Q&A confirmed for Sunday, November 19th, 2023.