Erasure's Andy Bell Lets Down His Guard on Second Solo Album

After 25 years and as many millions of albums sold, Andy Bell remains in awe of his Erasure partner, former Depeche Mode and Yazoo synth-pop guru Vince Clarke. In writing material for his second solo album, 'Non-Stop,' due out Tuesday on Mute, Bell says he felt less pressure than he usually does, even though the project meant stepping away from his wildly successful group.

"With Erasure I'm much more self-conscious," Bell tells Spinner. "I don't know why, but I think it's mainly because the history we have together. Vince has always been a hero of mine. Vince is kind of my mentor. I'm always showing my work to him and lyrics and things like that. Doing this record, I was much more just fixing words onto the rhythms. I was less guarded about what I was doing."

Bell wrote 'Non-Stop' with Gabriel Pascal, a Belgian producer he came to work with after scrapping tunes he'd recorded with Stephen Hague, the man behind records by the likes of New Order and Pet Shop Boys, as well as Erasure. The Hague sessions sounded too much like Erasure, according to Bell's label bosses, which led to the change.

"I thought, 'I've been in the business all this time, and now I'm not allowed to sound like myself?'" Bell says. "It's kind of strange."

While 'Non-Stop' isn't drastically different than an Erasure album -- it's got plenty of the gleaming synths and pop melodies that have earned Bell and Clarke dozens of hit singles -- it's harder, darker and more nocturnal sounding than much of the duo's output.

As much as Bell enjoyed the experience of working with someone else, he's looking forward to July, when he'll travel to Clarke's Maine studio and begin cutting tracks for the next Erasure record. Bell says having a second solo album under his belt may change the songwriting dynamic, although it's too soon to tell.

"It's a bit hard with boys with their toys, with their synths, to get a way in, but I think through making this record, it's maybe opened the door a bit," he says. "We've got quite a few ideas. There are quite a lot of really good ideas. I'm just kind of looking forward to honing them down, really. I've got a load of lyrics to do. It's a bit daunting."