Welcome to Recoil, where the dark recesses of Alan Wilder's mind get music's equivalent of cinemascope treatment. During the nine haunting and sultry tracks that comprise `Unsound Methods', we are taken to the edge of unease, through dark, dub infected landscapes, reverberating with shivering piano, seductive strings and a deep electronic pulse. Guest vocalists Siobhan Lynch, Maggie Estep, Douglas McCarthy and Hildia Cambell conspire with the former Depeche Mode man to forage through a jungle of imagery invoking fear, paranoia, longing and lust in equal measures. "There's an underlying strangeness to it all," Wilder agrees. "If there is a theme, it's something to do with psychological damage." Never had a record so apt a title.

`Unsound Methods' is the first fully fledged Recoil LP to which Wilder has been able to devote all his creative energies since leaving Depeche Mode in 1995. Assembling the unnerving scores in his home studio, he gradually pieced together the music and ideas for every track before drawing each collaborator into his net of intrigue. "Most of the tracks emerge in this way, with a loose concept which I will offer to the various singers that they can then elaborate on. Rather than starting with a completely blank piece of paper, they're being asked to write something that evokes a particular feeling, without imposing any more than that. I think that everyone I work with likes having that framework."

Douglas McCarthy, the former Nitzer Ebb singer, opens the album with `Incubus', whose mood was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's film 'Apocalypse Now', and includes a few lines of dialogue from it. "The uncanny thing is that Doug naturally sounds exactly like Martin Sheen" grins Wilder. McCarthy goes on to further his Mr Hyde act in the self-explanatory `Stalker'. "That's Doug wearing his dirty raincoat."

Maggie Estep, who performs on `Luscious Apparatus' and `Control Freak', is a spoken word artist from New York. "Actually, I'd been searching for a rapper who was a bit different. Then the idea of Maggie came up," he explains, "she was just what I was looking for, her words are quite edgy and unconventional and as it turned out, her style was much more suitable than a rapper anyway."

Siobhan Lynch came to Recoil on the strength of a demo. "Her material was very stark, just an acoustic guitar and vocal, which I found really refreshing. You could hear every nuance of her voice, all the emotion," reflects Wilder. "I was looking for someone who'd be equally different to Doug and Maggie. Siobhan's tracks are more ambiguous than theirs. The subjects are a bit looser." She sings on 'Missing Piece' and the forthcoming single `Drifting' which has more of an indeterminate theme. "I felt it could be about somebody who's slightly lost and lonely and I just asked Siobhan to write what she thought."

Completing the Recoil guest-list is Hildia Cambell, who provides the cold, cold blues on `Red River Cargo' as well as the sensuous 'Last Breath'. Wilder has worked with her before during his time in Depeche Mode. "Hildia is one of the gospel singers who sang on the 'Songs of Faith and Devotion' LP and tour. She required a different approach because I really wanted her to reproduce ideas I already had. I didn't ask her to write her own lyrics as such." Both these tracks feature extracts from old gospel and blues songs.

Along with the tripnotic instrumental 'Shunt' that completes the LP and alternative remix contributions from Flood (Depeche Mode and U2), Barry Adamson and Panasonic, 'Unsound Methods' makes for a diverse and eclectic collection.

Working in this unique way has afforded Wilder far greater freedom of expression and creativity. This has obviously inspired him. He sees the possibilities now as endless. "This LP has clearly moved on from anything I've done before," Wilder considers, "and it's significantly different to any previous Recoil release. I think it's a perfect situation for me, being able to work with lots of different people. It's a project that really could go anywhere and be anything and I like the fact that it just keeps evolving and changing all the time. Recoil is no longer a side-line"

In the meantime, `Unsound Methods' makes a startlingly original introduction to Recoil's heart of darkness.

RECOIL NEW ALBUM FROM FORMER DEPECHE MODE MAN ALAN WILDER

Former Depeche Mode man Alan Wilder will release a new album on Mute this October, under his alias Recoil. Entitled `Unsound Methods', this will be the first fully-fledged Recoil LP to which Wilder has been able to devote all his creative energies since leaving Depeche Mode in 1995. The nine tracks were assembled in his home studio, before four very different vocalists/lyricists were enticed into his net of intrigue to invoke what Wilder describes as, "the underlying strangeness of it all."

The first taster from Recoil's savage soundtracks can be found on the forthcoming single `Drifting', to be released by Mute on October 13th. Here, Wilder is joined by singer Siobhan Lynch, who came to Recoil on the strength of a demo. The track combines a haunting and hypnotic groove with Lynch's desolate and vulnerable melodies.

Elsewhere on `Unsound Methods', Wilder is joined by New York-based spoken word artist Maggie Estep who offers a tale of ill-fated obsession in `Luscious Apparatus', by gospel singer Hildia Cambell supplying the cold, cold blues on `Red River Cargo' and by former Nitzer Ebb frontman Douglas McCarthy who provides an unnerving narration on the Apocalypse Now inspired opening track `Incubus'.

"This LP is significantly different to anything I've done before, including previous Recoil releases," says Wilder."Ultimately, everything I do has to have substance and atmosphere, to be able to send a shiver up my spine. Otherwise I'm just not interested."