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""The Third Chimpanzee" follows the footsteps of the previous solo album of the blond angel of Depeche Mode with a cold and tenebrous electronic music but seeming sometimes devoid of any horizon."
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2/5
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The strength of Depeche Mode lies in the symbiosis between the energy and sensuality of Dave Gahan and the sensibility of Martin Lee Gore. If Dave Gahan has somewhat deviated from the parent company (notably with ''Paper Monsters'' and his single ''Dirty Sticky Floors''), his counterpart has often taken the field, whether with his former colleague Vince Clarke in VCMG or solo. At the beginning of this year 2021, Martin Gore releases his 4th solo opus, ''The Third Chimpanzee'', directly inspired by the book of Jared Diamond, subtitled ''Essay On The Evolution And The Future Of The Human Animal'', an anthropological essay dealing with the way traveled by the human being to come down from the chimpanzee and its possible future evolutions. Note that the cover shows a drawing made by a monkey...
Martin Gore tried to imagine an album whose composer would be an ape (a hazardous find in the studio when Martin realized that his distorted voice could bear some resemblance to primates), each of the tracks bearing the name of a species. The shadows of Kraftwerk (the introduction of 'Autobahn' on 'Howler') and of German electronics are hovering over this 'The Third Chimpanzee'. The multiplication of the layers poses a lead cover on 'Howler' before finding a sketch of redemption on a final as exotic as luminous. 'Capuchin' lets some sounds evoking Depeche Mode shine through; it is also the only moment where Martin Gore's voice can be heard, distorted in a primate way.
Martin Gore continues his technoid quest started with ''MG''. If the artist has fun, it is unfortunately not always shared by the listener. In spite of the playful aspect of the album, its lack of variety is quite blatant, with often the impression to listen to the same piece passed under the filter of different sound mixings. The compositions suffer from the comparison with Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. If a progression is generally noticeable with these last ones, Martin Gore sticks most of the time to repetitive loops on which sometimes operate micro-variations either brief ('Mandrill'), or applying a new repetitive logic. Only 'Vervet' saves the EP from the disaster, a 8 minutes track which is more captivating and adopts an almost cinematographic writing allowing the listener to let his imagination wander.
"The Third Chimpanzee" sounds like a recycling of the offcuts from the previous album. It is regrettable that Martin Gore, lacking inspiration, did not take better care of his concept, especially since the track 'Vervet' seemed to indicate the right direction. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Howler
02. Mandrill
03. Capuchin
04. Vervet
05. Howler's End
LINEUP:
Martin Gore: Guitares / Claviers
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