Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell Collage

Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell Paper Collage

The recent passing of Andy Fletcher has made me think a lot about Depeche Mode.

Violator played a big part in my life as a kid, but upon reflection I realized I hadn’t listened to very many other Depeche Mode albums from start to finish. So I started listening to the catalog from the beginning, and was inspired to create a Speak & Spell collage.

While I was definitely familiar with Just Can’t Get Enough, New Life, and one of my sister’s favorites, Boys Say Go!, I discovered the songs Nodisco! and Puppets, both of which are now in my top 15 favorite DM songs of all time.

I ended up buying the CD from my local Exchange. Upon reading the booklet, I noticed that it was a reissue, and that the crown is not present in the original release. I chose to include the crown because a. Depeche Mode may as well be considered royalty and b. I recently watched Black Swan and a crown seems fitting for the animal.

After gluing down the circles I realized that I made a fatal error, but ripping paper off paper usually results in a bigger mess, so I left it. I also made a lousy judgement call with another section of the piece. Can you spot the mistakes?

The album cover was photographed by Brian Griffin, who, along with creating many more Depeche Mode covers, has photographed a variety of other covers for iconic musicians throughout his career.

Griffin’s commentary on some of the shots made me chuckle, as he provides some great behind-the-scenes insight about his art on his website. Per Griffin regarding the Speak & Spell cover - “I have no idea on how I arrived at this concept for the album sleeve.” It is an absolutely gorgeous, elegant cover, so I’m glad he arrived there.

The hardest parts in making the collage were finding an image that best suited the body (in the end I went with Pluto’s arm), cutting out the circles for the crown (note: longer scissors work better than shorter scissors), and deciding how to approach the plastic wrap. In the end I went for simple long cuts in a neutral color to accent the folds while keeping things transparent.

Materials used: Brenda Walton paper, junk mail, magazines, tissue paper, Mod Podge, paintbrush, scissors.

I enjoyed the analog process of using my hands. It’s nice to stare at something other than a digital screen for hours on end.

Rest in peace, Fletcher.