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Pet Store Boys – Nonetheless (Parlophone)
Neil Tennant is within the type of his life because the synth-pop legends have a good time going again dwelling with certainly one of their most various albums so far
Returning to their authentic label of Parlophone 12 years after Elysium appeared like being the ultimate album on their pure dwelling, Pet Store Boys mark the event with their most stately work since that polarising document.
Neil Tennant promised CP final 12 months that “The strings are again”, which is in reality a worrying signal for these followers who discovered Elysium and Launch just a bit too sombre. That their new producer James Ford’s work with The Final Shadow Puppets, of all bands, was the explanation PSB approached him – reasonably than, say, having Kylie, Jessie Ware or Depeche Mode on his CV – equally seems a head-scratcher.
But, if Nonetheless isn’t fairly in the identical class as Behaviour (and albeit, what’s?), it actually shares the spirt of their 1990 masterpiece. Slightly than the “We’re severe artists” temper of 2002’s Launch, right here the strings and brass are largely there to deliver further pleasure.
Neil Tennant has not often celebrated love so overtly in his lyrics than Really feel or The Secret Of Happiness, ballads which head additional into the celebrities due to their opulent preparations. For anybody who has Between Two Islands as their favorite PSB B-side, its Balearic bliss is again on The Secret Of Happiness.
The Joys Of Pop
The extravagance peaks on A New Bohemia, certainly one of Tennant/Lowe’s richest and most dramatic songs, but sustaining a reality and sweetness due to Neil’s plaintive vocals at its core. Certainly, certainly one of Nonetheless’ many joys is how lovely Tennant’s voice is. He could joke that crying on the dancefloor is his consolation zone within the I Wouldn’t Usually Do This Form Of Factor temper of Why Am I Dancing?, but Neil’s voice has by no means been so persistently emotional as it’s throughout these 10 songs.
Whereas Tennant’s gravitas dominates, Nonetheless isn’t particularly earnest, because it’s nonetheless in thrall to the thrill of pop: home banger Bullet For Narcissus is that this album’s So Arduous and the chunky Dancing Star may have bounced straight in from Aspect Two of Please. OK, meaning now we have to endure the weirdly garish The Schlager Hit Parade, which is principally what Pet Store Boys haters assume Pet Store Boys all the time sound like, however one little bit of eurotrash can’t disrupt an in any other case completely judged album.
Nonetheless is probably the most diverse PSB LP since Basic, virtually an on the spot Greatest Of for what number of different Pets songs it brings to thoughts. It deserves to capitalise on any wayward followers returned to the fold for the reason that infinite post-Covid hits tour. And, given how good Neil Tennant’s vocals are right here, it looks like Pet Store Boys would possibly simply be getting began yet again.
4/5
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