Pet Shop Boys - Elysium

2009's Yes saw the return of the Pet Shop Boys' no-holds-barred love of disco pop. The lead single Love Etc. was one of the band's most European-sounding of dance tunes, and featured Neil Tennant in a slightly holier-than-thou light. "Don't have to be a big bucks Hollywood star", he drawled, as though frontman of an anarchic outfit at the grass-roots stage of his career, and the whole result was a little bit silly. The Pet Shop Boys are typically famed for their amusing, dry, poetic lyrics and Yes quite missed the mark. 


In substituting their more bombastic sound for a collection of string arrangements and quiet little synths, the duo here focus on their alter ego that they so aptly described with the release of their double-disc greatest hits collection PopArt: one side dancefloor fillers (Always on My Mind, What Have I Done to Deserve This?), the other more reflective and genius (Being Boring, Left to My Own Devices). But given that in their prime the duo have been capable of putting out both simultaneously, can Elysium merit itself without its party moment?

It begins promisingly, with the George Michael (in his prime, not his outstaying-his-welcome-at-the-Olympics stage) sounding 'Leaving': "I can still find some hope to believe in love" is the resounding conclusion, and over the song's gorgeous synths it's just conducive to a great comeback. They touch upon the importance of relevance in pop music on 'Invisible', lamenting "after being for so many years the life and soul of the party, it's weird, I'm invisible" over some of the album's most relaxing and mournful sounds (at some stages it almost sounds like an ECG monitor). 'Winner' then capitalises upon the whole competitive and triumphant zeitgeist of mid-2012 Great Britain, and was apparently quite well received, but for me the song's so daft and over-the-top that it's just an embarrassing listen. The tune's also pretty much a dud.

"It's bad in a good way, if you know what I mean," smirks 'Your Early Stuff', a not-quite-fulfilled attempt at self-referencing humour, and its failure might be put down to the surprising basicness and emptiness of Tennant's lyrics. The album's sole glowsticks-and-hair-thrashing moment comes courtesy of 'A Face Like That', one of the duo's biggest and boldest tunes since Go West and a shameless lapse into aestheticism and immediate attraction. It's followed by 'Breathing Space'; by any means a massive comedown, but a fairly pretty melody that's piqued by lovely string arrangements and a hushed, yet confident vocal. Every now and again though the pair fall into a trap where they attempt to be daring or satirical, and their swipe at pretentious popstars on 'Ego Music', matched with its notably more modern sound, just feels slightly bitter. Tennant's monologue ("What can I tell you? I'm an artist") slots nicely between the refrains ("Fake humility! Sense of entitlement!") and it's vaguely funny, but out of place when followed by the ridiculous 'Hold On'. The album's second (after Winner) self-congratulatory 'epic' attempt smacks of arrogance, and nauseating choirs just add to the grotesqueness.

A drift away from electronica, 'Give it a Go' has an almost lounge-music feel to it with the foot-tapping rhythms and an encouraging, uplifting lyric, and a couple of odd instrumental inclusions (accordion, guitars) further distance it from the rest of the album. It's pleasant, but a sore thumb. On the other hand, 'Memory of the Future' is all elegant, opulent romanticism ("You seem to be/ A perfect memory/ Of the future reminding me/ How life is meant to be"), and it's a pretty great tune as to boot. 'Everything Means Something', however, is a dark, slow mid-80s kind of Kate Bush derivative with a not-quite realised lyrical attempt at depth - quite ironically it inspires more of a shrug than a eureka moment. The Independent critic Andy Gill believed the two bookends of Elysium to be the stand-outs, and 'Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin' certainly lives up to that description. Nice sound effects and clicks are dropped over a delectably ambient synth, whilst Tennant looks fondly back: "I visualize the flashbacks/ School, punk rock, success/ Parties, too much of everything/ The cliches, the candles, the mess".

If as much care had been put into Elysium's fillers as there's been put into the lyrics to that closer, the end result might not be so disappointing. There's a decent handful of good songs that might well stand the test of time in 20 years the same way West End Girls and It's a Sin do now, but they're surrounded by so much unabashed mediocrity that ultimately lets album 11 down.

Rating: 6/10
Highlights: Leaving, Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin, Memory of the Future, A Face Like That
Avoid: Winner, Hold On, Ego Music, Your Early Stuff

Artwork Watch: It is bloody pretty.
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