"Leave in Silence" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

band

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, ''

A Broken Frame ''A Broken Frame'' is the second studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 27 September 1982 by Mute Records. The album was written entirely by Martin Gore and was recorded as a trio after the departure of Vince Cl ...

'' (1982), on 16 August 1982. Recorded at Blackwing Studios, the single became the band's fifth UK Top 20 hit, peaking at number 18. It was the first Depeche Mode single in the UK to use the "Bong" catalogue number system, which they used until "

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

" in 2013. Three versions of the track were released on the 7″ and 12″ singles, while a fourth cut, running at four minutes and fifty-one seconds, was released on ''A Broken Frame''.

Background and recording

"Leave in Silence" was written to be more experimental than the pop songs that had preceded it for the band. Singer Dave Gahan said of the song, "it kind of summed up the whole of the second album. Rather than continue to do these lightweight poppy songs, we decided to experiment. Martin can write pop songs, but we wanted to try something totally different, just to see if we could."

Critical reception

In 2017, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine writer Andrew Unterberger stated that the song "stands today as their most regrettably overlooked classic", describing it as "A shimmering and simmering synth-pop mini-epic whose brilliance comes in its relative restraint — keys sparkle and then dissipate, built-up tension dissolves into instrumental negative space, the title is practically whispered as the chorus climax. It’s the rare breakup ballad that attempts to tiptoe out the back door rather than loudly storm out the front, having already had enough of all the drama". In a 1986 band biography, the song was described as an "absolute departure" from the then-established "Depeche Mode sound". Gahan said "There were a couple of other things rackswe could have released which could have gone straight into the charts and been really successful, but it just didn't seem right. You can't just carry on releasing stuff every few months and having hits with something catchy."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Leave in Silence" was directed by

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

, and features the band breaking things on a

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to a belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to as drums), with a closed loop of carrying medium—the conveyor b ...

and talking to each other while wearing

face paint Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or "he ...

. The band disliked the video and did not include it on the '' Some Great Videos'' compilation album.

Track listing

All tracks written by Martin L. Gore 7″: Mute / 7Bong1 (UK) # "Leave in Silence" – 4:00 # "Excerpt From: My Secret Garden" – 3:16 12″: Mute / 12Bong1 (UK) # "Leave in Silence" (longer) – 6:32 # "Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden" – 4:23 # "Leave in Silence" (quieter) – 3:42 CD: Mute / CDBong1 (UK) – released in 1991 # "Leave in Silence" – 4:00 # "Excerpt From: My Secret Garden" – 3:16 # "Leave in Silence" (longer) – 6:32 # "Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden" – 4:23 # "Leave in Silence" (quieter) – 3:42 CD: Sire / 40294-2 (US) – released in 1991 # "Leave in Silence" – 4:00 # "Excerpt From: My Secret Garden" – 3:16 # "Leave in Silence" (longer) – 6:32 # "Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden" – 4:23 # "Leave in Silence" (quieter) – 3:42

Charts

References

External links

Single information from the official Depeche Mode website
{{authority control 1982 singles Depeche Mode songs Songs written by Martin Gore Song recordings produced by Daniel Miller Mute Records singles Music videos directed by Julien Temple 1982 songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles