Pet Shop Boys - Nonetheless (LP)

Pet Shop Boys have spent four decades turning melancholy and mischief into pop currency, and their fifteenth studio album, Nonetheless, lands in April 2024 with that same clear-eyed sparkle. It marks a return to Parlophone and a new partnership with producer James Ford, whose track record with Arctic Monkeys and Depeche Mode hints at sleek rhythm and a love of texture. What you get is a refined, song-first Pet Shop Boys set that still gives the hips something to do, but lives or dies by melody, story and arrangement.

Loneliness was the first taste and still feels like the album’s mission statement. It is classic Tennant and Lowe, a buoyant synth chassis carrying a lyric that teases out the complexity of being alone in a crowded room. The chorus lifts like a late bus finally showing up in the rain, and Ford keeps the kick and bass pulsing without crowding the vocal. Dancing Star is the other instant grabber, a lithe disco fantasia about Rudolf Nureyev that balances camp allure with empathy. The hook is sticky, the strings wink, and the rhythm section struts with the kind of poise that rewards repeat spins on a dancefloor and at home on Nonetheless vinyl.

Elsewhere the record leans into memory, identity and the simple thrill of a great tune. New London Boy plays like a love letter to the city that shaped them, a rush of glam colour and synth chime that feels both nostalgic and forward. A New Bohemia drifts into twilight, all soft-focus keys and a melody that hangs in the air, while Why am I dancing? asks its question with a bittersweet grin. Bullet for Narcissus changes the temperature, darker and tauter, the duo’s gift for character study shading into menace without losing their precision.

The production choices are a quiet delight. Ford favours crisp drums, round bass and analogue glow, and you can hear how carefully everything is placed. The orchestrations, arranged by Sally Herbert, give several songs a cinematic lift, not syrup but a set of colours that play off Chris Lowe’s synth architecture. Neil Tennant’s voice sits warm and conversational in the mix, conversational yet poised, as if he is letting you in on the joke and the ache at the same time. Compared to the bright, club-forward Stuart Price trilogy of Electric, Super and Hotspot, this feels like a pivot back to craft. Not a retreat, more a rediscovery of their love for pop as storytelling.

What keeps Nonetheless engaging is the way it threads lived experience through club culture. You feel the duo’s age in the best way, the perspective that lets a line land with a raised eyebrow rather than a lecture. There is romance here, and doubt, and a refusal to give up on the romance of doubt. It is also quietly funny. Tennant still tosses off lines that make you smirk on the tram, then starts a second verse that deepens the scene and moves the tune. Few acts of their era are writing this cleanly, this economically.

On the turntable, the album breathes. The low end is warm without bloat, hi-hats are tidy, and those Herbert strings open up nicely. If you are the kind of listener who cares which pressing you grab, this is one of those Pet Shop Boys albums on vinyl that rewards the fussiness. Browsing a Melbourne record store and seeing that sleeve in the new arrivals rack feels right. And if you prefer to buy Pet Shop Boys records online, hunt around for a local shop in the vinyl records Australia ecosystem before you default to the usual giants. Pet Shop Boys vinyl tends to hold its value, and this one will be getting reached for more than most.

Critical response has been warm, and it is not hard to hear why. Nonetheless is not trying to top charts or reinvent nightclubbing. It is content to be a strong, emotionally literate pop record from a band that understands how small production decisions and a well-placed synth line can turn a good chorus into a keeper. If you have been away since the hits, this is a welcome re-entry. If you have stuck with them through every era, the balance of reflection and shine will feel like a reward. Either way, it is another chapter worth filing alongside the classics, and a very easy recommendation for anyone building out a Pet Shop Boys vinyl shelf.