Dave Gahan & Soulsavers reinterpret their faves on 'Imposter'

Dave Gahan - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multi-platinum-selling frontman for Depeche Mode - will release Imposter, a new album with Soulsavers (AKA Rich Machin) on Nov. 12. 

It includes a dozen reimagined songs by from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey, Charlie Chaplin, Cat Power and Mark Lanegan and others.

“When I listen to other people’s voices and songs—more importantly the way they sing them and interpret the words—I feel at home,” Gahan says in a prepared statement. “I identify with it. It comforts me more than anything else. There’s not one performer on the record who I haven’t been moved by.” He adds, “I know we made something special, and I hope other people feel that and it takes them on a little kind of trip—especially people who love music and have for years.”

The first offering from Imposter is “Metal Heart.” Written by Chan Marshall (Cat Power), and first released in 1998, the reimagined version from Dave & Soulsavers is available now. 

Unlike Dave Gahan & Soulsavers’ past albums which were transatlantic collaborations where the duo recorded separately and passed parts back and forth, the recording of Imposter was done live as a 10-member band at the famed Shangri-La Recording Studio in Malibu, CA in November of 2019.

In an interview with podcaster and media personality Chris Black, Dave noted, “This was the first time we were all in one space. It was kind of lucky [timing] as well… Arriving at Shangri-La every day, it was magical. We’d have coffee, go in, and work.”

Imposter, also produced by Rich Machin and Dave Gahan, serves as the collaborators’ third album, following their critically acclaimed 2015 release Angels & Ghosts and their first release, 2012’s The Light the Dead See. The album will be released in digital, as well as physical formats via Columbia Records.

Track listing:

The Dark End of the Street
Strange Religion
Lilac Wine
I Held My Baby Last Night
A Man Needs a Maid
Metal Heart
Shut Me Down
Where My Love Lies Asleep
Smile
The Desperate Kingdom of Love
Not Dark Yet
Always On My Mind