Hourglass by Dave Gahan

Hourglass, Dave Gahan's second solo album, came out on Mute on 17 October 2007, four years after Paper Monsters, and this time the Depeche Mode frontman took the producer's credit himself. He leaned hard into electronics, wrapping pulsing, shadowy textures around that deep baritone, and the songs sound like late-night confessions delivered under strobe lights.

Critics mostly warmed to it and praised its electronica sound, though a few grumbled that it sounded too much like his day job. Given that he had been singing lead in Depeche Mode since 1980, that was hardly a shock. When he next surfaced, it was as the voice on Soulsavers' The Light the Dead See in 2012.

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