Recoil

Alan Wilder has released solo material as Recoil since 1986. A keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer, Wilder was a key member of <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a> for well over a decade, throughout the band's most successful years. At first, Recoil was a platform for lengthy, experimental, and electronic-oriented pieces, but Wilder later gravitated toward shorter, more dramatic tracks -- typically around six minutes in length -- that often incorporated spoken word artists and guest vocalists, as well as inspiration from blues, gospel, dub, film music, and hip-hop. Stylistically, Wilder's output was difficult to pigeonhole, though the slow, wrenching nature of much of his output since 1992's Bloodline evoked comparisons to the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:6FXMGgJwohJLUSr5nVlf9X">Massive Attack</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3OsRAKCvk37zwYcnzRf5XF">Moby</a> -- when, in fact, those acts owed much to Wilder's work with <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a>.

A late-'70s job as a tape op and occasional session keyboardist at London's DJM Studios led Wilder to membership in a series of short-lived bands, including Dragons, Dafne & the Tenderspots, Real to Real, and <a href="spotify:artist:44de5I8rbCwTAjBF1xYv75">the Hitmen</a>. Most notably, Wilder played on <a href="spotify:artist:69zRcOlNdSZ17VfIZe4VU3">the Korgis</a>' 1979 number 13 U.K. hit "If I Had You." Wilder's brief journeyman stint ended after he noticed a Melody Maker ad from an "established band" seeking a synthesizer player. After two auditions, he joined that band -- <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a> -- effectively replacing the departed <a href="spotify:artist:7zkGCcaPSB7nLCtaxEWWE1">Vince Clarke</a>. Initially, Wilder was on board for touring purposes. Studio-wise, he didn't make his debut until the January 1983 single Get the Balance Right!, which featured an instrumental B-side he composed with the band's <a href="spotify:artist:6KQQ6ka4Thwww3kjYqrG0F">Martin Gore</a>. That song, "The Great Outdoors!," was used as introduction music to some of the band's performances on a tour for A Broken Frame (<a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a>'s second album, recorded with neither <a href="spotify:artist:7zkGCcaPSB7nLCtaxEWWE1">Clarke</a> nor Wilder).

Wilder's creative involvement coincided with the band's development of a darker, more complex sound, as well as a gradual increase in popularity. Beginning with 1983's Construction Time, each Wilder-era <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a> studio album went either gold or platinum in multiple countries. 1990's Violator, a triple-platinum release in the U.S. alone, was most popular of all. On June 1, 1995, following the release of Songs of Faith and Devotion and a grueling tour, Wilder announced his split from the band. This naturally allowed him to concentrate on Recoil, a project that had been sporadically active since the mid-'80s.

Like <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a>, Wilder's Recoil was signed to Daniel Miller's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a> label. The first Recoil release was 1986's 1+2, a 33-minute release consisting of two sparse and winding electronic tracks. Hydrology, a three-track release anchored by another pair of lengthy, suite-like pieces, followed in 1988. The CD version added 1+2 in its entirety. Released in the wake of Violator, 1992's Bloodline featured vocals from <a href="spotify:artist:3OsRAKCvk37zwYcnzRf5XF">Moby</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:42AURgCa94xz79E0fxE3Ay">Diamanda Galas</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6WYkr1SJofUO79alKPjop0">Curve</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:1k92N0jplAxEijUxiecNDk">Toni Halliday</a> and, returning the favor for producing his band <a href="spotify:artist:7EnAgffrVyerTWH628TJ6f">Nitzer Ebb</a>'s Ebbhead, <a href="spotify:artist:6eQMSkJiRrp1Tl1sihQ6zu">Douglas McCarthy</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:2gSskdDhLQCx3CQd6XKDhp">Bukka White</a> was sampled for one of the more affecting tracks, "Electro Blues for Bukka White." Unsound Methods, the first post-<a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a> release, came in 1997. Along with a return from <a href="spotify:artist:6eQMSkJiRrp1Tl1sihQ6zu">McCarthy</a>, several new vocalists were added to the mix, including spoken word artist <a href="spotify:artist:0Zw1Vb19P0sIpWzlXOEFLT">Maggie Estep</a> and former <a href="spotify:artist:5Kvo1gV5usYbYwY4XkBFDV">Miranda Sex Garden</a> member Hepzibah Sessa (to whom Wilder was married).

The following decade brought two Recoil albums. 2000's Liquid was Wilder's most intense release to date and a refinement of the '90s albums. 2007's relatively atmospheric Subhuman, however, reduced the number of vocalists to two: blues musician <a href="spotify:artist:3nNtQS8rPl7WUmdv1Un5De">Joe Richardson</a> (who also provided guitar and harmonica) and singer/songwriter Carla Trevaskis. An anthology, Selected, followed in 2010, along with a 52-city Recoil tour described as an art installation rather than a standard series of performances. Wilder subsequently remixed <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a>'s "In Chains," put together the Blu-Ray Recoil release A Strange Hour in Budapest, and served as executive producer of The Spirit of Talk Talk, a two-disc tribute to the synth pop and post-rock pioneers. Two appearances were featured on the 2012 release: "Dum Dum Girl" (featuring <a href="spotify:artist:2oaVDOQfFBuWJ7VpVmgQc4">Shara Worden</a>, aka <a href="spotify:artist:37qXWlhfRvpxmIeTKvfw8B">My Brightest Diamond</a>) and "Inheritance" (with <a href="spotify:artist:0bvRYuXRvd14RYEE7c0PRW">Linton Kwesi Johnson</a> and Paul Marshall). ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi