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Music

Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode

Thomas R. Morgan hears more than silence.

Violator, the seventh studio album by the British band Depeche Mode, was groundbreaking when it was released back in 1990. It’s aptly named, due to its musical style, which combines a somewhat pessimistic outlook with catchy pop-synth tunes, and, more pertinently, due to its subject matter. Indeed, each song (written by Martin Gore) offers a novel take on life, love, and perception.

I’ve noticed that several tracks on the album seem to reflect tenets of two schools of philosophical thought, Stoicism and Buddhism. These songs celebrate what I would interpret as ‘inner satisfaction’, or in more religious terms, a form of enlightenment.

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