Pet Shop Boys’ Feel: Keeping the Neon Club Alive

You can’t keep The Pet Shop Boys down. They keep pumping out new music at a steady pace. Recently they released Nonetheless with a paired down EP Feel. The record is a full-length album, while the EP is a short 5 song collection of demos and remixes. The track for this review is the radio edit off the EP. We have seen The Pet Shop Boys go a bit darker and grounded on their Lost release in 2023…so what will this new record give us?

With tracks like Loneliness the new record isn’t 100% rainbows and lollypops, but it returns to the neon soaked twitchy club energy the band is known for. Feel really embodies this return to the club as hazy shaggy synth mingles with some clean surgical electro riffs. This track is a mix of the seedy back of the club where everyone is doing coke with the pristine light-up floors of the front of the house. Having said that, this track is electro precision with all of the band’s clubby knowledge on show. Musically, this is an impeccable club track that does not feel dated, but right at home in a modern context.

What I think really freshens up the sound is the echo / reverb effect on the vocal. This effect fits well with the electro expanse of a James Blake or Troye Sivan. I find some of their early work fun and clubby, but a bit claustrophobic. For me, some of that 80s synth stuff is trying to fit in so many riffs and electro tweaks that the weight of it can be oppressive. For me, the airy expansive vocal gives the track a lightness that lets it wash over you and breathe. The most important thing is that the post work on the vocal does not detract from the vocal, but adds to the track overall.

There is a good 2 minute difference from the record version to the radio edit. You miss some of that expansive electro exploration when they cut it down to radio edit. So, a true fan may find the radio edit lacking, but the edit’s trimmed length makes it a bit more punchy…so it will be a matter of personal taste. It’s great to see The Pet Shop Boys continue to put out solid music at such a rapid pace. I expect this record to perform well both critically and commercially.

Listen to Feel