It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 184 Pet Shop Boys - Nonetheless

 

                                               'Everyone's dancing to Roxy and Bowie.' 

In my last year at university I met the biggest fan of the Pet Shop Boys I've ever known. He didn't half go on about the Pet Shop Boys. He's since told me that I introduced him to the joys of John Coltrane which he's grateful for, but Pet Shop Boys have plenty to recommend themselves too. And I'm thankful for his enthusiasm and input during this last year of education before we both made our way out into the cruel world of work.When I hear the Pet Shop Boys I will always think of Matt. . 

I remember him saying that Being Boring might as well have been the band's definitive moment. You could always have accused the band of being boring.It was a huge part of their persona and appeal. The way that Neil Tennant sang. Their austerity and sensibility. They embraced the accusation. 

Never more so than on new album. Nonetheless. An archetypal Pet Shop Boys album title.The Phatic Filler.The understated. The droll, English wit. And language. And sound.

Pet Shop Boys have  not really been about enormous change down the years and they're not starting here. This sounds like a Pet Shop Boys record that might have come out in 1994. Every bit as much as 2024. They still look young. Why not? 

All their standard tropes are here. Minimisalism. Spareness.  Wit. That sound. The light. The space. Generally I'd consider myself an advocate of change. Of growth.  In some cases if it ain't broke don't fix it is actually the right approach. Much of Nonetheless comes across as a prolonged curtain call. Tennant and Heath.  Masters of their craft.