Alan Wilder has released solo material as
Recoil since 1986. A keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer,
Wilder was a key member of
Depeche Mode for well over a decade, throughout the band's most successful years. At first,
Recoil was a platform for lengthy, experimental, and electronic-oriented pieces, but
Wilder later gravitated toward shorter, more dramatic tracks -- typically around six minutes in length -- that often incorporated spoken word artists and guest vocalists, as well as inspiration from blues, gospel, dub, film music, and hip-hop. Stylistically,
Wilder's output was difficult to pigeonhole, though the slow, wrenching nature of much of his output since 1992's
Bloodline evoked comparisons to the likes of
Massive Attack and
Moby -- when, in fact, those acts owed much to
Wilder's work with
Depeche Mode.
A late-'70s job as a tape op and occasional session keyboardist at London's DJM Studios led
Wilder to membership in a series of short-lived bands, including Dragons, Dafne & the Tenderspots, Real to Real, and
the Hitmen. Most notably,
Wilder played on
the Korgis' 1979 number 13 U.K. hit "If I Had You."
Wilder's brief journeyman stint ended after he noticed a Melody Maker ad from an "established band" seeking a synthesizer player. After two auditions, he joined that band --
Depeche Mode -- effectively replacing the departed
Vince Clarke. Initially,
Wilder was on board for touring purposes. Studio-wise, he didn't make his debut until the January 1983 single Get the Balance Right!, which featured an instrumental B-side he composed with the band's
Martin Gore. That song, "The Great Outdoors!," was used as introduction music to some of the band's performances on a tour for
A Broken Frame (
Depeche Mode's second album, recorded with neither
Clarke nor
Wilder).
Wilder's creative involvement coincided with the band's development of a darker, more complex sound, as well as a gradual increase in popularity. Beginning with 1983's
Construction Time, each
Wilder-era
Depeche Mode studio album went either gold or platinum in multiple countries. 1990's
Violator, a triple-platinum release in the U.S. alone, was most popular of all. On June 1, 1995, following the release of
Songs of Faith and Devotion and a grueling tour,
Wilder announced his split from the band. This naturally allowed him to concentrate on
Recoil, a project that had been sporadically active since the mid-'80s.
Like
Depeche Mode,
Wilder's
Recoil was signed to
Daniel Miller's Mute label. The first
Recoil release was 1986's
1+2, a 33-minute release consisting of two sparse and winding electronic tracks.
Hydrology, a three-track release anchored by another pair of lengthy, suite-like pieces, followed in 1988. The CD version added
1+2 in its entirety. Released in the wake of
Violator, 1992's
Bloodline featured vocals from
Moby,
Diamanda Galas,
Curve's
Toni Halliday and, returning the favor for producing his band
Nitzer Ebb's
Ebbhead,
Douglas McCarthy.
Bukka White was sampled for one of the more affecting tracks, "Electro Blues for Bukka White."
Unsound Methods, the first post-
Depeche Mode release, came in 1997. Along with a return from
McCarthy, several new vocalists were added to the mix, including spoken word artist
Maggie Estep and former
Miranda Sex Garden member Hepzibah Sessa (to whom
Wilder was married).
The following decade brought two Recoil albums. 2000's
Liquid was
Wilder's most intense release to date and a refinement of the '90s albums. 2007's relatively atmospheric
Subhuman, however, reduced the number of vocalists to two: blues musician
Joe Richardson (who also provided guitar and harmonica) and singer/songwriter
Carla Trevaskis. An anthology,
Selected, followed in 2010, along with a 52-city Recoil tour described as an art installation rather than a standard series of performances.
Wilder subsequently remixed
Depeche Mode's "In Chains," put together the Blu-Ray Recoil release A Strange Hour in Budapest, and served as executive producer of The Spirit of Talk Talk, a two-disc tribute to the synth pop and post-rock pioneers. Two appearances were featured on the 2012 release: "Dum Dum Girl" (featuring
Shara Worden, aka
My Brightest Diamond) and "Inheritance" (with
Linton Kwesi Johnson and
Paul Marshall). ~ Andy Kellman