Martin Gore of Depeche Mode has teamed up with Cliff Damavandi for a new single called “Cross Whisper,” featuring vocals from Gore’s daughter, Johnnie Lee. Together, the trio is called MG x CD + JL =. Out now via Mute, the song was birthed from an eerie phenomenon Gore experienced in which birds would appear when someone close to him died. “I was out with some friends and we started talking about death so I shared that whenever someone close to me has died, birds start appearing, sometimes arriving every day for a year outside my window,” he explained. “When my mother died, a bird came, and again when my dog passed. When my cat died, a bird came into the house and flew downstairs into the room where it slept!”
The storytelling inspired Damavandi to write lyrics alongside this anecdote. “When Martin was sharing his story, he was so alive, and I could feel the story as well as hear it,” he added. “There was an otherness that compelled me to write the words.”
Check out “Cross Whisper” below.
