Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore has announced an instrumental solo EP titled The Third Chimpanzee, set for a 2021 release.

Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore has announced a new instrumental solo EP, titled The Third Chimpanzee. To give us a preview of what fans can expect from the new release, Gore also shared the first track from the album, ‘Mandrill’.

Described as a ‘ferocious slice of electro’, The Third Chimpanzee follows Gore’s 2015 release MG, although in his own words differs in its surrealism. Relying on the classic synth-pop and atmospheric sound that Gore trademarked as a founding member of Depeche Mode, ‘Mandrill’ was produced and written by Gore.

“The first track I recorded had a sound that wasn’t human,” Gore says in a statement. “It sounded primate-like. I decided to name it ‘Howler’, after a monkey.

“Then, when it came time to name the EP, I remembered reading the book ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee’. It all made sense to call it that, as the EP was made by one of the third chimpanzees.”

The news also comes a short while after Gore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G. and T. Rex.

The Third Chimpanzee EP tracklist: 
1. ‘Howler’
2. ‘Mandrill’
3. ‘Capuchin’
4. ‘Vervet’
5. ‘Howler’s End’

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The Third Chimpanzee by Martin Gore arrives January 29th, 2021.

Check out ‘Mandrill’ by Martin Gore:

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