Doublespeak’s Vince Clarke, Neil Arthur And Benge On Their Synthpop Covers Album

BusinessHollywood & EntertainmentDoublespeak’s Vince Clarke, Neil Arthur And Benge On Their Synthpop Covers AlbumByDavid Chiu,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Chiu is a freelance music writer based in New York.Follow AuthorMay 28, 2026, 08:30am EDTDoublespeak.credit: DoublespeakThe first time that British keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Neil Arthur met was around 1981, when Clarke’s then-band, Depeche Mode, was touring with Arthur’s group, Blancmange, as the support act. “We got to know each other quite well,” Clarke says today. “We all went on vacation together. It was to Tenerife, as I recall, in Spain. And Neil and I have been sort of keeping in touch off and on for all this amount of time.” Adds Arthur, “We [Blancmange] were involved with Steve-O, who put together the Some Bizzare compilation album, which we were lucky enough to be on along with Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Illustration and The The…We went on tour after Depeche Mode signed to Mute. So I got to know Vince kind of around that time.”More than 40 years later, Clarke and Arthur have formed a supergroup called Doublepseak with musician-producer Benge. The trio’s self-titled debut album, due out this Friday, is a collection of eclectic covers of songs by such artists as ABBA, David Essex, the Carpenters, Glen Campbell and Fad Gadget — all rendered with an analogue-sounding electropop feel. The project started informally almost a decade ago between Arthur and Clarke, long before the idea of making a record.“I think neither Neil nor I really were thinking about it ever being released,” says Clarke, who went on to further success with Yazoo and Erasure after leaving Depeche Mode in 1981. “I was just thinking, ‘Well, we'll just keep doing this.’ So we were trying different song ideas, different cover ideas, and we were exchanging those ideas. But I don't think there was any real plan. It wasn't until London Records got involved.”Doub...