Album Review: Pet Shop Boys – Elysium

‘You’ve been around but you don’t look too rough / And I still quite like some of your early stuff’ chants Neil Tennant on the acutely aware ‘Your Early Stuff’. Pet Shop Boys have been around long enough to know the score. Their success dates back to the mid 80s and in terms of shelf live, they have exceeded all pop expectations. However, that doesn’t mean Tennant and his long-term musical partner Chris Lowe are about to bow out to a wave of criticism.

With 2009′s Brian Higgins/Xenomania produced Yes already having been met with mixed emotions, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have returned to the fold with the mellow, Andrew Dawson produced, Elysium. Eleven studio albums in and the Pet Shop Boys seem all but ready to hang up their dancing shoes. With Dawson best known for his cutting-edge work with rapper Kanye West, what can he bring to the table when working with the Pet Shop Boys who are usually ahead of the game?

Elysium makes no play for the immediate. Tennant and Lowe are not wanting to relive the heady days of their early days. Elysium makes no attempt to recreate the euphoria of Please or addictive inclines of Bilingual, nor does it attempt to recreate current trends or incorporate them into their signature sound. Pet Shop Boys are not Madonna, they don’t seek global adoration for their youthful ways. Seemingly, they have instead released an album that reflects their current state of play, one that veers on the introspective and reflective, yet draws the listener in regardless.

With the aforementioned ‘Your Early Stuff’ proving that the Pet Shop Boys have lost none of their perfect pop bite, and lyrical capability, Elysium continually reaffirms the point. The blissful ‘Breathing Space’ uplifts, while the trance inducing ‘Invisible’ leaves you feeling anything but. However, it is the stonking slap of ‘Ego Music’ that packs the biggest punch. With the beat reinstated, Tennant and Lowe launch a scathing attack on their fellow artists, without ever pointing a finger and placing blame. Delivered with an air of nonchalance, Tennant is an effortless bitch. Sharon Osbourne and Madonna ought to take note.

For all its positives, Elysium is far from a perfect score. The irritatingly repetitive ‘Face Like That’ is so mind-numbingly boring that it wouldn’t even pass as a pastiche of poor 90s pop. The forward thinking ‘Memory Of The Future’ is ironically retrospective in its composition. While this is probably a conscious decision by Lowe and Tennant, the potential euphoric state is never fully induced by the track.

Though Elysium might be a reworking of the Pet Shop Boys formula, none of the vital ingredients are missing from the mix.

Elysium can be pre-ordered from Amazon or iTunes.