Released: April 26
Four years since their last long-player, Pet Shop Boys make a glorious return with ‘Nonetheless’.
Teaming up with producer James Ford, the 10-song collection showcases Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as they stand today; a cacophony of dance anthems and introspective ballads that, together, make up the Pet Shop Boys sound.
“We wanted this album to be a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human,” they say of their latest record. “From the more dance-orientated tracks to the raw poignancy of the introspective ballads, with their beautiful string arrangements, each track tells a story and contributes to the overall narrative of the album.”
Much has happened on a global scale since their last outing, but on opening song and lead single, Loneliness, Tennant makes a rallying call to break all self-imposed notions of solitude and step out into the light. It’s a mindset touched upon again in Why Am I Dancing?, on which he ponders reasons to be happy in a world as it exists today but can’t seem to resist the (admittedly infectious) groove.
The romantic A New Bohemia yearns for the for the ideals of yesteryear – one of several moments that looks to the past while drawing up a blueprint for the future. Case in point: the rap in New London Boy, reminiscent of Pet Shop Boys’ debut single West End Girls, at the core of a song dealing with Tennant’s experience as a queer man in the capital back in the 1970s, and urging those in the LGBTQ+ community to live authentically today.
It’s one of a handful of political moments on ‘Nonetheless’, including second single Dancing Star, inspired by the life of the ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, who defected from the Soviet Union and became a global star, and Bullet For Narcissus, which adopts the viewpoint of Donald Trump’s bodyguard accepting his fate.
But the thread that ties the record together is an unwavering sense of optimism for a better future, as captured in the pure pop anthem, The Schlager Hit Parade, centred on the German postwar pop explosion that paved the way into the second half of the 20th Century and beyond.
By the end of their latest three-album run, it was clear that Pet Shop Boys’ decade-spanning partnership with Stuart Price had run its course, but in joining forces with Ford the duo appear reinvigorated and deliver a bold, current and exciting body of work that stands tall alongside the very best of their catalogue.
