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Artist: | Soft Cell |
Title: | Soft Cell *Happiness Not Included |
Label: | |
Format: | LIMITED YELLOW LP |
Barcode: | 4050538704549 |
Catalogue number: | 04549 |
Store location: | pre-order |
SKU: | 1C5057 |
Condition: | BRAND NEW & SEALED |
The items we sell are brand new and unused official releases supplied to us by record companies, unless stated otherwise in the listing. Generally all items are sealed (this will be stated in the listing title). Occasionally we may open an LP to confirm any colour variant. We sometimes sell used items, this will be shown in the listing. |
Soft Cell – frontman Marc Almond and producer/instrumentalist Dave Ball – are set to return with their fifth studio album *Happiness Not Included, which will be released in spring 2022 via a new deal with BMG. It represents their first new album since they issued ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ back in 2002. They will build towards the album’s release by sharing a new single in the autumn and playing some UK shows in November 2021.
One play of ‘*Happiness Not Included’ reveals all of the traits that fans first adored Soft Cell for: that distinctive and striking balance between light and shade, hope and despair, the personal and the universal. Highlights include the yearning, airy pop of ‘Purple Zone’ which contrasts its uplifting sonics with Almond’s darkly doomed lyrics, while ‘Light Sleepers’ drifts with a daydream elegance that neatly matches its subject matter. Elsewhere, ‘Bruises On My Illusions’ is bigger and more abrasive, its baroque-tinged synth energy elevated by theatrical vocal harmonies, while the pure grandeur of ‘New Eden’ closes with the album on a suitably cinematic note.
‘New Eden’ best encapsulates the album’s themes as Almond sings, “All those plans we made in the ‘60s… Seem naïve now we’ve grown older / Leaving we’re leaving looking for the New Eden.” Changing perceptions of the passing of time are a recurring theme throughout. At various points, Almond explores the disappointment of a future that never materialised, reflects on his experiences at The Factory, expresses disillusionment at the modern media landscape, and comes to accept that life isn’t eternal.
“In this album I wanted to look at us as a society: a place where we have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality and decency, food before the rights of animals, fanaticism before fairness and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others. But in the album there is also a belief that there is a utopia if we can peel back the layers and understand what really matters. – Marc Almond
“Recorded remotely during a world pandemic. Science fiction stories for the 21st century.” – Dave Ball
A1 Happy Happy Happy 4:46
A2 Polaroid 4:41
A3 Bruises On My Illusions 4:45
A4 Purple Zone 3:11
A5 Heart Like Chernobyl 3:24
A6 Light Sleepers 4:41
B1 *Happiness Not Included 4:55
B2 Nostalgia Machine 4:34
B3 I'm Not A Friend Of God 4:35
B4 Tranquiliser 3:50
B5 New Eden 6:29
dispatched in | 24 hours |
year of release | 2022 |
condition | new |
genre | Electronic,Pop |
artist | Soft Cell |
Country | EU/US |
Recently In Stock | Yes |
Forthcoming | No |
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