Depeche Mode have announced a new album, their first since the death of their keyboardist Andy Fletcher.

The band feels it holds an “extra level of meaning” following Fletcher’s death.

The keyboardist, nicknamed “Fletch”, who founded the group in Basildon, Essex in 1980, died at the age of 60 in May.

Remaining band members Martin Gore and Dave Gahan said they felt that Fletcher would’ve wanted them to finish the album, Memento Mori, so they continued working on it until completion.

In 2023, the group will begin a tour of the new album which they haven’t done for five years.

The tour will start with a “special, limited series of North American arena dates” starting on March 23, before a summer stadium tour in Europe from May 16.

The North American tour will see the band stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles’ Kia Forum and Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.

European dates include Twickenham Stadium in London on June 17 as well as stops in Berlin, Paris and Milan.

Speaking about Memento Mori, Gore said: “We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time.

“After Fletch’s passing, we decided to continue as we’re sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning.”

Braintree and Witham Times: Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode (dpa/Alamy Live News/PA)Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode (dpa/Alamy Live News/PA)

Gahan added: “Fletch would have loved this album. We’re really looking forward to sharing it with you soon, and we can’t wait to present it to you live at the shows next year.”

Memento Mori will be the band’s 15th studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed Spirit.

Fletcher formed the band with Gore and Vince Clarke, who later left in the early 1980s.

During this career, two of their albums, Songs Of Faith And Devotion and Ultra, reached number one in the charts.

Columbia Records will release Memento Mori worldwide in spring 2023.