Pet Shop Boys - Hotspot ⅘
This is the fourteenth album from the legendary Pet Shop Boys. It is of course a selection of electro pop tunes with a sardonic raise of the eyebrow thrown in. Nothing too surprising, this is their third collaboration with producer Stuart Price and has the usual hallmarks of the Pet Shop Boys sound but with a beefier feel.
‘Willow The Wisp’ (not based on the Kenneth Williams voiced cartoon unfortunately) has a pounding, driving beat and dispels any notion that the boys are slowing down or calming their sound in any way whatsoever. Neil sings about catching the sight of a former friend or lover he’s not seen for many years, as usual melancholy drapes itself over the song and continues into ‘You Are The One’ a surprisingly romantic tune full of optimism.Italio-house piano riffs lead the way through the stomping ‘Happy People’ whilst Olly Alexander from Years & Years pops in to dish out some vocals on ‘Dreamer’ and Bernard Butler lends his guitar to the somber ‘Burning The Heather’ one of the Pet Shop Boys’ darker songs.
‘Hotspot’ has a duality to it, on one hand it has an almost autumnal feel to it, on the other it still has the lustre of their earlier work if not as full on as previous album ‘Super’ which was almost exhausting to listen to such was it's frenzied energy, ‘Hotspot’ is more even paced.
If there is one weak link on the record it has to be album closer ‘Wedding In Berlin’ which has promise but sports dreadful, overly simplistic lyrics about getting married and keeps getting interrupted by snatches of the wedding march. Ghastly.
Overall ‘Hotspot’ is the Pet Shop Boys on very familiar territory but nobody does it as well as Neil and Chris and we can hope they keep growing old disgracefully producing new work like this.