Kill Me was actually one of the first ideas that we had for the songs that would form the English Electric collection. I mentioned to Paul that it would be interesting to try a looped vocal idea something like our old song 4-Neu, and suggested the words "kill me".
He sent me back the harp arpeggio, chord structure, his own sung chorus and spoken female voice (the first time that I was introduced to the Vox Machina programme). In our usual manner I determined to ‘butcher’ Paul’s sweet track to create the OMD balance of beauty and pain. I introduced the glitchy drums and my lyrics began as purely dark.
However, as time elapsed the focus of the lyric became more uplifting. It tells of a journey through pain and darkness to another brighter light. The ‘kill me’ phrase is rather cathartic now, referring to sloughing off an old skin (killing the past or ones former self) and starting again.
It seems appropriate that we close this chapter of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark with this beautiful song. There is a wonderful future if you choose it: we just do not know where it will lead us.
You can listen to Kill Me here.
Kill Me is available as part of the Night Café single bundle which is available digitally on iTunes or on CD from Amazon, Recordstore or our official store.