Recoil

Recoil is a musical project created by English musician and former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder. Essentially a solo venture, Recoil began whilst Wilder was still in Depeche Mode as an outlet for his experimental, less pop-oriented compositions. Once he announced his departure from the group in 1995, Recoil became Wilder's primary musical enterprise. 1980s and 1990s Recoil began in 1986, when Daniel Miller (record producer and founder of Mute Records) heard some of Alan Wilder's demo recordings, which he had made on a 4-track cassette machine. These recordings were substantially different from anything Depeche Mode had released – whilst they were still created using synthesizers and sampling, they featured little of Depeche Mode's catchy pop songwriting, instead opting for an experimental, John Cage-esque style. Due to the primitive and decidedly uncommercial nature of these pieces, Wilder and the record label decided to release the album inconspicuously, naming it 1 + 2. It eventually came out in mid-1986, not long after the release of Depeche Mode's well-received Black Celebration. In January 1988, during the middle of Depeche Mode's hugely successful "Tour for the Masses", Mute released the second Recoil album – Hydrology. This followed in a similar vein to the previous Recoil record, consisting of entirely instrumental, synthesized landscapes. Unfortunately, due to Wilder's busy touring schedule, he was unable to effectively promote the record.