‘It’s a deep soul connection’: Erasure on how 40 years of friendship got them through grief – and why Vince Clarke has quit touring

Returning for a 20th album of sumptuous synthpop, Andy Bell and Clarke open up about difficult recent years, being happily uncool and battling resurgent homophobia Andy Bell is rabbiting away on multiple topics.

There’s his farm in Mallorca, where he and his husband Stephen Moss have had a fine year harvesting pomegranates, kiwis and lemons. Then there’s the Erasure frontman’s fascination with clowns (“Would the makeup help you avoid facial recognition technology? ”), memories of 90s nightclubbing (“You could do anything and get away with it! ”) and a worry that he’s turning into “a fussy old grandpa”. Suddenly, he catches…