Album "Nonetheless"

Pet Shop Boys are at the peak of their career

Tireless and in top form: the legendary Pet Shop Boys are in unchanged strength on their 15th studio album "Nonetheless".

(Bild: Warner Music, Alasdair MacLellan, Krone KREATIV)

If you didn't know it, you wouldn't automatically recognize the Pet Shop Boys as a pop duo in civilian clothes. Singer Neil Tennant (69) comes to the interview about the new album dressed smartly, while his colleague and keyboardist Chris Lowe (64) appears in a washed-out hoodie in the offices of the London record company. "He didn't dress up," says Tennant with a grin about his colleague, who - unlike in photos and at concerts - is not wearing sunglasses.

The Pet Shop Boys are in a great mood. No wonder. After around 40 years in the business, the British duo are as popular as ever. They are filling the big halls with their "Dreamworld" tour. To round off the tour, they played five sold-out concerts at the venerable Royal Opera House in London in June. Their 15th studio album "Nonetheless" is now being released.

Graceful orchestral sounds
The pre-released single "Loneliness" opens the record with graceful orchestral sounds before the driving beat kicks in and the familiar soft voice of Neil Tennant can be heard. The slightly melancholy number is an absolute earworm. In conjunction with the music video, one could assume that it is about the loneliness of gay men. But the Pet Shop Boys, whose songs play an important role in Andrew Haigh's recently released queer drama "All Of Us Strangers", wave it off.

"It's about loneliness in general, but maybe it's also to do with age," explains Tennant, who really doesn't look his 69 years, in an interview with the German Press Agency. "As you get older, your social life can shrink a bit, almost by design. You withdraw a little because you don't have as much energy. That has nothing to do with being gay."

Room for nostalgia
The album's themes are diverse. In "New London Boy", the singer recalls his beginnings in the British capital. Back then, he worked as a reporter for a music magazine. "Dancing Star", a disco song with an 80s retro sound, is dedicated to the legendary Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. On the other hand, "Bullet For Narcissus" is about a bodyguard who has to protect Donald Trump, even though he despises the former US president.

"The Schlager Hit Parade" is a wonderfully ironic observation of music programs in post-war Germany, which were intended to convey an image of an ideal world. Tennant sings buoyantly about "mulled wine, sausage and sauerkraut", the need for harmony and the subliminal desire to leave the dark past behind: "What never happened in the Schlager hit parade."

A look at Germany
"Someone said to me that pop songs are either about Christmas or the summer vacations. Either you're skiing and drinking mulled wine or you're going to the coast of Mallorca," says the singer with a grin. The genre fascinates them both. "It's the kind of music you only listen to when you're in Germany," says Lowe. "And usually in a small, cozy bar. It goes really well there, with a really good draught beer."

Tennant has been trying to learn German for several years using a cell phone app. However, the 69-year-old sometimes despairs. "If you sit next to me on the train in the afternoon, you'll hear me sighing and swearing. Sometimes I want to throw my phone across the compartment. It's just impossible."

Obscene, but cozy
The Pet Shop Boys have a close connection to Germany. They recorded some of their albums in Berlin's Hansa Studios. "There was an old-fashioned gay pub nearby that was frequented by quite old-fashioned gay men, playing very old-fashioned gay music," Tennant recalls with amusement. "They had a huge penis candle there. It was kind of obscene, but also cozy. You don't find places like that in the UK anymore. We used to go there with our programmer because we liked the music."

However, the Pet Shop Boys did not record their new album in Berlin, but in London, mainly in the studio of their producer James Ford, who has recently worked successfully with the Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode and Blur. "He's really talented," enthuses Chris Lowe. "Everything happened so quickly." And it can be heard.

Classical and synth rhythms
Musically, the Pet Shop Boys are once again moving in their own cosmos on "Nonetheless". They fuse retro sounds, 80s pop, orchestral arrangements and modern EDM beats with ease to create their own style. In "The Secret Of Happiness", they emulate lounge sounds à la Henry Mancini or Burt Bacharach to minimalist synth rhythms.

There are plenty of catchy tunes. "Melodically, I think it's incredibly strong," says Neil Tennant confidently about the album. "I think we're at the peak of our songwriting abilities, which is really amazing at this stage." You can only allow yourself so much self-praise when it's appropriate - as in this case. "Nonetheless" is an intelligent and sophisticated late work by the Pet Shop Boys, in short a top-class pop album.