Album Review: Erasure – World Be Gone
2 min read
2017 marks the 17th album release from 80s electro pioneers, Erasure. World Be Gone sees duo Andy Bell and Vince Clarke silence those who question their relevance some thirty years on from their debut.
The rhythmic thumping intro to Love You To The Sky gets the record off to an impressive start, it’s a subtle way of letting everyone know the good ship Erasure is still fighting fit. The expertly guided melody would make this a cracking festival tune for glitter covered crowds spanning the generations. The more reserved sound to Be Careful What You Wish For mimics the cautionary nature of the title. The synths swoop in and out of the verses like gusts of wind, pushing the track on to completion.
World Be Gone shares a similarly relaxed intensity compared to the opener, indicating perhaps Erasure distancing themselves from bigger beats. As their first generations of fans grow older, Erasure might have made this album for arm-chair ravers more than warehouse all-nighters. Early highlight ‘A Bitter Parting’ will strike a chord with anyone experiencing post-romance woes. Likewise, Take Me Out Of Myself is able to put words to indescribable feelings of dissociation. It tracks the disconnect people sometimes go through during their lives, and could act as a way to pulling these people back into their own lives.
The more World Be Gone progresses, the more prevalent themes close to mental illness and self-doubt seem prevalent. Sweet Summer Loving is yet another song that subtly hints at inner conflict. But the way Erasure dress their songs in sparkly jackets of melody, they are able to be frank without being Debbie-downers. Lousy Sum Of Nothing seems like an indictment against the state of the world, bemoaning how modern technology shortens our attention spans. Technology in the modern world is not as much of a plague on society as Erasure would want us to think it is, but goddamn they have made a bloody good attempt to try and convince listeners it is.
Closing the album is Just A Little Love, which is the most Erasure sounding Erasure song ears may ever wrap around. The call and response between Bell and backing singers beg to be sung in the shower of a morning. World Be Gone exits just as wonderfully as it entered, full of the flare of the 80s that lights a warmth of nostalgia and optimism.
