"Bauhaus Staircase" is the fourteenth studio album by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released on October 27, 2023, by White Noise Records and 100% Records in the UK and Ireland. This album marks their first release in six years since The Punishment of Luxury (2017) and is inspired by world politics during the late 2010s and early 2020s. It features three singles: the title track, "Slow Train," and "Veruschka."
The album has received positive reviews, with Record Collector and Classic Pop magazines naming it the best new album release in their November 2023 issues. Other outlets have described it as OMD's finest work since the mid-1980s. Bauhaus Staircase debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, making it the group's highest-charting studio album in the UK, matching the peak of 1988's The Best of OMD, and it topped the UK Independent Albums Chart.
The title of the album comes from the Oskar Schlemmer painting, Bauhaus Stairway (1932). During the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, OMD frontman Andy McCluskey found creative inspiration in the experience of boredom, leading him to write much of the album. He created music and lyrics based on various song title ideas, including "Bauhaus Staircase," "Kleptocracy," and "Anthropocene" (the original title). Bandmate Paul Humphreys noted that the album also features older tracks the group had struggled to complete. Due to COVID restrictions, they had to work remotely.
Thematically, the album is described as OMD's most explicitly political work, with "Kleptocracy" targeting leaders like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Vladimir Putin. The title track pays homage to the Bauhaus art movement, while tracks like "Anthropocene" and "Evolution of Species" address ecological issues. Personal themes appear in "G.E.M." and "Aphrodite's Favorite Child." The Goldfrapp-inspired "Slow Train" features stream-of-consciousness lyrics reminiscent of their 1991 hit "Sailing on the Seven Seas."
The album's artwork was created by Liverpool-based artist John Petch. In April 2023, McCluskey hinted that the next OMD album might be the band's last, although he mentioned the possibility of collaborating with other artists in the future.
