Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore has a new collaboration out. Together with artist and lyricist Cliff Damavandi, and with vocals from Gore’s daughter, he has released Cross Whisper under the new project name MG x CD + JL =. The track came out on Mute on 20 October 2026.
The song started with a conversation about unexplainable things. Gore told friends that birds had appeared on several occasions when someone close to him died, including one bird that kept tapping at his studio window two days before he learned a close friend had passed.
“Whenever someone close to me has died, birds start appearing, sometimes arriving every day for a year outside my window,” Gore says in Mute’s announcement.
Damavandi was moved enough to write lyrics, which Gore then set to music. “There was an otherness that compelled me to write the words,” he says.
The track opens with whispered voices that slowly give way to Gore’s synths, with an insistent hammering running through it that mirrors the bird at the window. Mute has also shared an official visualiser, filmed in Japan and England by Luca Bailey.
A limited transparent green 12″ (12MUTE705) follows on 4 December 2026. It pairs the 5:46 original with remixes by Regis, Vera Grace, ANNA, Pye Corner Audio and boothnavy. The full digital release on 15 January 2027 adds a seventh track, Regis’ Cellular Drift Remix.
Bandcamp – https://martingore.bandcamp.com/album/cross-whisper
Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/us/album/cross-whisper-single/6807438772
Mute – https://mute.com/martin-gore-collaborates-with-cliff-damavandi-for-haunting-new-track-cross-whisper/
Mute Bank (12″ vinyl) – https://mutebank.co.uk/products/mg-x-cd-jl-cross-whisper-green-12
Side-Line – https://www.side-line.com/martin-gore-cliff-damavandi-cross-whisper/
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