MG (Martin Gore album)
# MG (Martin Gore album)

MG is the second solo studio album by English musician and Depeche Mode member Martin Gore, and the first to include self-penned material rather than cover-versions. It was released on 27 April 2015 by Mute Records and consists of sixteen electronic instrumentals. A music video for "Europa Hymn", directed by M-I-E and incorporating illustrations by Jan L. Trigg, was released to YouTube in February 2015.

## Reception

Professional ratings :

| Aggregate scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.6/10 |
| Metacritic | 70/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Exclaim! | 6/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| Mojo | |
| musicOMH | |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10.0 |
| PopMatters | 7/10 |
| Q | |
| Record Collector | |
| Rolling Stone | |

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, MG received an average score of 70, based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Martin Gore.

## MG Remix EP

Martin Gore announced a remix EP, available on double 12” vinyl and digital download via Mute. The EP includes remixes by Andy Stott, Virgil Enzinger and Christoffer Berg, alongside two previously unreleased tracks. In association with BitTorrent, Gore also launched a remix competition for the track “Featherlight”. The winning remix is included on the digital release of Gore's EP. MG, released on Mute in April 2015 marks the first solo instrumental album from Depeche Mode's Martin Gore. Described by Pitchfork as “a careful sculpting of electricity and air”, the album creates an absorbing and emotional sonic landscape. The deadline for submission was August 21, with a winning remix announced August 31.

## Studio equipment

According to interviews with Martin Gore published in Electronic Musician (July 2015), Keyboard Magazine (July 2015) as well as video-interview on his official website, Gore mentioned some instruments (mainly synthesizers, modular synthesizer systems, drum machines) and other equipment he used in the album recording:

* Eurorack modular system
* Elka Synthex
* Gleeman Pentaphonic
* 88 DOTCOM system
* Aries modular system
* Digisound 80 modular system
* Synton Fenix
* ARP 2600
* ARP Solina String Ensemble
* Arturia MiniBrute
* Elektron Analog Four
* Elektron Analog Rytm
* Dewanatron Swarmatron
* Octave Plateau Voyetra Eight polyphonic synthesizer module
* Moog Minimoog Voyager
* Moog Memorymoog
* Tiptop Audio Trigger Riot
* Noise Engineering Zularic Repetitor drum module
* Solid State Logic mixing console
* Apple Logic Pro (DAW)

and other equipment.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of MG.

* Martin Gore – art direction, design, production
* Q – mixing (all tracks); additional programming (tracks 5, 7–9, 11, 12, 15)
* Will Hinton II – studio assistance
* Stefan Betke – mastering
* Jonathan Kessler – management
* Paul A. Taylor – art direction
* Jan L. Trigg – illustration

## Charts

| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 37 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 108 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 68 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 90 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 7 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 71 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 28 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 50 |
| UK Dance Albums (OCC) | 13 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 7 |
| US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 27 |
