Depeche Mode fans should relish this opportunity to see the soul of singer Dave Gahan bared in his first solo album, ?Paper Monsters?. While Gahan?s voice is synonymous with the band?s sound, it?s always been Martin Gore who?s done the songwriting.

On ?Paper Monsters? ? so named for all the hidden fears Gahan has carried with him as an artist which might have prevented him from following his heart previously ? it?s like the artist lets out a long, happy sigh as he climbs down from his ?front man? role and simply allows his real self to shine through in these 10 bittersweet songs about love and, well, some of the dark stuff he still can?t quite escape.

It?s an album of heart-wrenchingly honest songs, and as such makes for an intense, introspective, even solitary listening experience. It?s not quite the kind of album you?d stick on to get into a partying mood ? rather, the songs encourage slowing down, tuning in, paying attention to Gahan?s freer-sounding vocals and his often hauntingly beautiful lyrics.

Make no mistake, Gahan, who has been around as an accomplished artist and part of a world famous band for over two decades, has come into his own. He?s long since sated his need to live the cliched rock 'n roll lifestyle, and has realised that he can both love and be loved, and all of it shows on ?Paper Monsters?.

The album was composed along with a multi-instrumentalist friend from New York, Knox Chandler, and produced by Ken Thomas of (Icelandic post-rock band) Sigur Ros fame. It was recorded in an open-ended, back-to-basics manner which Gahan found both liberating and exhilarating: "What really hit me most was how happy and fulfilled it made me feel," he has said. "I wanted to hear something that makes me feel good?.

As a result, the album has a refreshingly positive mood about it ? it?s a musical journey where, thematically, hope conquers hurt. According to Gahan, 'Bitter Apple' is about rediscovering the exquisite pain of love. 'Stay', meanwhile, is a majestic hymn of quiet awe inspired by the birth of his daughter: "When she was born it was like a big arrow went through my heart," he recalls, "I really started to feel like my heart was beating again."

It?s not all shiny, happy stuff, of course ? and one would hardly expect that of an artist noted for his dabblings in the dingier, gloomier recesses of excess.

In between the softer, more sensual songs like 'Hold On', 'A Little Piece' and 'Stay' are those with a more ragged edge, like 'Bottle Living' which features Gahan on blues harmonica. Then there?s 'Dirty Sticky Floors', his piss-take on his own sleazy alter ego, the wasted rock star who would pass out on his own, or someone else?s, dirty, sticky floor.

Gahan has not only managed to survive his often perilous life?s journey, but has also salvaged a sense of humour and seems to be keeping his ego well in check. ?Paper Monsters? reveals all this and more, but that aside, it?s an album that stands alone ? and well apart from the Depeche Mode legacy ? as a worthy offering in its own right.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF A RECENT INTERVIEW WITH DAVE GAHAN