Pet Shop Boys - Super

Pet Shop Boys
Super
2016
Spotify

The Pet Shop Boys have always been at their best when they elevate basic House and Dance music into something bright, fresh and exciting. You don't just stumble in to making thirteen albums or have the wild success many of their tracks have so Super finds them at a crossroads, looking back on their history yet always moving forward. The first real song we get with this theme is "The Pop Kids" which summarizes a time when Stuart Price was more concerned with the next great pop song rather than the rock and roll which was saturating the air waves. The first thing that sticks out obviously is the vocals. If you are not used to Pet Shop Boy vocals, their affected tone might be a bit off putting. They don't really sing as much as they melodically talk. It's odd, but so is everything about their style. The pet Shop Boys always want to keep you slightly off balance so you never get a real hold on them. On "Twenty-Something" we get an exploration of tech, even from the business side (startups). It is a song that a times makes sense and at others seems so out of left field. "Pazzo!" is probably the first outright dance track we get on the album and it is a welcome break from the general oddness that is the first few songs. There is very little subtlety on Super, The Pet Shop Boys are not going to wait for your to come to the music, instead they are going to bash you over the head with it from the jump.

There seems to be a great deal of trying a style on for size for a track than leaving it by the wayside. A track like "Inner Sanctum" is dark and brooding taking an almost ambient style but it only last for that one track. "Sad Robot World" is reminiscent of M83's Junk from earlier this year, heavily 80s influenced and altogether boring. The Pet Shop Boys have definitely left the pursuit of pop behind on this record, but they have gone really far the other way leading to some rather dull tracks. Even on something like "Say It to Me", which clearly has the bones of a good dance song, their lyrical choices just take you completely out of the song. Tennant's voice is unique and wholly his own, but here it just doesn't work as well as it has in the past, He doesn't seem to have the range many of these tracks needed to really soar. There is even a real sense that they are getting something and they are not letting the listener in on the joke. The album almost feels to cool for school, and if you are going to have that attitude you better fucking bring some real thunder. The Pet Shop Boys have not.

5.9 out of 10