Pet Shop Boys
Nonetheless
★★★★
PARLOPHONE
In 2020, Pet Shop Boys concluded their own Berlin trilogy with the downbeat Hotspot, companion to 2013’s Electricand 2016’s Super. While it’s improbable Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will ever disown the club (proof: the submerged throb of Loneliness), the duo have stretched out with Nonetheless, luxuriating in imported storytelling (Dancing Star; Bullet For Narcissus) and high-thread-count drama (The Secret Of Happiness; Love Is The Law).
While the disco end of their spectrum is lavishly furnished – “sexy sexy sexy,” sings Tennant alarmingly on The Schlager Hit Parade – their melancholic strain is most potent here. New London Boy’s trembling scene memories hit the sweetest spot between West End Girls and Being Boring(“plastic and showy” rhymed with “Roxy and Bowie”), while the heartbreaking A New Bohemia upgrades Piano Man to the First Class lounge. As that peppery title suggests, Nonetheless shows the duo pulling themselves up to full songwriting height, not just forging on, but flourishing.
Tracklisting:
Loneliness
Feel
Why Am I Dancing?
New London Boy
Dancing Star
A New Bohemia
The Schlager Hit Parage
The Secret Of Happiness
Bullet For Narcissus
Love Is The Law
Nonetheless is out now on Parlophone.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon | Rough Trade | HMV
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