While Paper Monsters had been an okay enough toe in the water for his solo career, Hourglass was an even better showcase for Dave Gahan’s singing and songwriting. Working with touring Depeche Mode member Christian Eigner as one of his coproducers and with guests like John Frusciante and Tony Hoffer, Hourglass explores a general electronic/rock fusion — Depeche adjacent but not a clone — that finds Gahan singing with sweeping ease from moodier songs like “Saw Something” and “Miracles”  to more crunching numbers as “Kingdom” and “Use You.”

– Ned Raggett