New Pets!

Fundamental
RHINO

"Celebrating 20 years since the release of their debut LP, Please, the Pet Shop Boys’ ninth album musically references the ’80s while addressing contemporary concerns. It’s at once essential Pet Shop Boys and a contemplation of a world where fundamentalism shapes wars and threatens personal freedom. Trevor Horn—the quintessential ’80s producer who helped fuse hi-NRG dance beats and new-wave rock for Frankie Goes to Hollywood—shapes the Pets’ effusive orchestrations, which contrast smartly with Neil Tennant’s understated vocal ache and arch lyrics. “I’m With Stupid” characterizes Tony Blair and George Bush as lovers with peculiar chemistry, while “Luna Park” paints America as a theme park where fear generates thrills. The album’s most explicit ’80s flashback, “The Sodom and Gomorrah Show,” celebrates the personal salvation in what zealots would consider sin, and does so with the aural equivalent of a Busby Berkeley extravaganza. Mixing ambitious art with dance floor entertainment, Tennant and musical partner Chris Lowe venture beyond their trademark synth-pop while retaining its playfulness."
— Barry Walters, for Out Magazine