The brand-new album ‘Happiness Not Included’ will be released in spring 2022! At the same time, the band is announcing the dates of their UK autumn tour 2021! The first album in more than 20 years!With 25 million units sold, six top 10 singles in the UK charts and a Brit Award, SOFT CELL are one of the most visionary formations that Great Britain has to offer. Right from the start, the duo put their stamp on the entire musical culture and set the standard for Synth Pop bands such as ERASURE and the PET SHOP BOYS. SOFT CELL inspired the Electro / Industrial scene long before their big explosion in the 1990s, were sampled by RIHANNA on their mega hit ‘SOS’ and also laid the foundation for today’s Alternative Pop scene with representatives such as YEARS & YEARS.
Now SOFT CELL - namely frontman legend Marc Almond and producer / instrumentalist Dave Ball - are back with their fifth studio album ‘Happiness Not Included’, which will be released in spring 2022 under a new contract with BMG and the first new album since its release of her last work ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ in 2002. The album release will be preceded by a brand-new single planned for autumn as well as several UK live shows in November 2021.
And the first hearing of ‘Happiness Not Included’ reveals all the cherished sound trademarks for which SOFT CELL has always been adored by its worldwide audience: This very special tightrope walk between light and shadow, hope and despair, between personal sensitivities and that universal whole. A highlight is the longing, airy-light Pop on ‘Purple Zone’, which contrasts its positive sound with Marc Almond’s dark and promising lyrics, while the daydreamingly elegant ‘Light Sleepers’ lives up to its powerful title. The more aggressive ‘Bruises On My Illusions’ is characterized by a baroque-like synth energy and theatrical vocal harmonies, while the majestic grandeur of ‘New Eden’ gives the album a cinematic ending.
‘New Eden’ aptly captures the predominant themes on the album with Almond’s lines “All those plans we made in the 60s ... Seem naïve now we’ve grown older / Leaving we’re leaving looking for the New Eden”: The changed perception over the course of time - the all-defining theme of the album. Marc Almond explores all the disappointments about a future that never existed. Recalls his experiences in ‘The Factory’, expresses his disillusionment with the modern media landscape and finally presents himself the realization that life is not infinite.
“On this album I wanted to take a look at ourselves as a society: a place where we have decided to put profit over people, money over morality and decency, food over animal rights, fanaticism over fairness and our own personal, trivial conveniences over the unspeakable suffering of others. On the other hand, the record also resonates with the belief in this utopia, that we will simply look under all the layers on top of one another and understand what really counts.” – Marc Almond
“Shot from a distance during a global pandemic. Science fiction stories for the 21st century.” – Dave Ball
In short: Although SOFT CELL has been active for four decades now, the formation today sounds more relevant, contemporary and accomplished than ever before. A band that only made Almond’s and Ball’s shared and separate adventures stronger.
The duo celebrated their worldwide breakthrough with their grandiose version of ‘Tainted Love’, which shot into the charts all over the world; including a two-week top 1 placement in the UK charts and a top 10 entry in the United States. A success with which the British followed with their first two albums ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ and ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’ as well as the mini album ‘Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing’ and also catapulted themselves into the top 10.
The idea for the new album was already born during their “last” show at The O2 in London in 2018. The live set, which was euphorically celebrated in the sold-out arena by 20,000 people, included all the big hits and favourite songs such as ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘Say Hello ‘Wave Goodbye’, ‘Torch’, ‘Memorabilia’ and many others: what was originally planned as a farewell quickly turned out to be a new beginning. To work on their new material, the duo engaged Grammy Award winner Phillip Larsen as co-producer. While they are currently in the middle of the preparations for their extensive planning, SOFT CELL is waving a last “goodbye” to say goodbye, in order to greet their fans again soon with a completely new “Hello”.
Due to the enormous interest SOFT CELL will give a little insight into the songs of ‘Happiness Not Included’ on their upcoming autumn tour. In addition to their greatest hits, the pieces from the 1981 debut album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ can also be heard in their entirety for the first time.
IG Track ‘Heart like Chernobyl’: https://open.spotify.com/album/4kGftLv1dM6cZO8e8sOdRn?si=ONX-Az9wRSWoiA1mmE03Ig&dl_branch=1
https://softcell.tmstor.es/
Source: Press Release
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