Album Review: Dave Gahan & Soulsavers - 'Imposter'

PJ Harvey said of her track ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’, covered magnificently on Imposter, “I know that song has nothing to do with me, that’s just a song that was maybe a 100 years old already.”

It’s a relevant point when considering Dave Gahan’s reimagining of the 12 tunes on Imposter, all meticulously chosen in reflection of his life. In completing such an exercise, most of us create a Spotify playlist. Gahan, no ordinary human, reimagines them through his extraordinary voice, with a 10-member band at the legendary Shangri-La studio in Malibu. 
 
‘I Held My Baby Last Night’ is audacious, in that it is Elvis doing Elmore James. Filled with anguish – but also rotten delight – the delivery is delicious, as dirty guitar and screeching Hammond swoop over Gahan’s whooping and hollering. He comes at Jeff Buckley’s ‘Lilac Wine’ in a radical way; indeed, many may pause momentarily to recall the original, a rarity when covering material from Grace. 

‘Man Needs A Maid’, meanwhile, feels more lived-in than the Neil Young original. Listening to ‘Strange Religion’, you appreciate anew the excellence of Mark Lanegan’s Bubblegum. Elsewhere, on Gene Clark’s ‘Where My Love Lies Asleep’ and Roland S Howard’s ‘Shut Me Down’, Gahan sticks close to the originals. Overall, though, Imposter makes for a compelling listen. 

Listen: ‘Metal Heart’
7/10

Imposter is out now via Columbia.