Wednesday, August 29, 2012

leaving it up to you

Pet Shop Boys have just announced that "Leaving" will be the second single to be plucked from their forthcoming, eleventh longplayer "Elysium".

The single will be released on October 15 in the usual formats including a CD, 12" vinyl and two download bundles. Extra tracks and remixes will round out each configuration.



The cover art for the single will feature two different sleeves - one featuring Neil Tennant, the other Chris Lowe. This is a design device that has been used often on PSB single sleeves in the past. It was most memorably used for the cover art for "Heart".



"Leaving" is a lush and languid number which fits nicely against other PSB singles of similar style including "Being Boring", arguably one of their best. According to Neil and Chris, "Leaving" was written in 2010 in the midst of their "Pandemonium" tour. It's a lovely song and one of several highlights on ver Boys' new elpee.

Following on from previous single "Winner", which left me cold, it feels like Neil and Chris have revisited some of the finer moments of their "Behaviour" and "Release" periods. "Leaving" even feels like it has shades of "Before", the lead single from "Bilingual". From the sound of things, "Elysium" feels like it might be and album of beautifully subdued grandeur.



"Elysium" will hit the "shops" on September 10.

3 comments:

  1. So, Vinny, what do you think of Elysium?

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  2. Can't wait for this album!! I love the direction the Boys have chosen for this release. There is some classic PSB moves here as if they are channeling some of the best of Behavior and Release!

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  3. I'm really not falling for any of the first two singles extracted from "Elysium". Weak songs, unimaginative lyrics (and that is outrageous coming from a class A lyricist like Neil), mid-tempo beats, and really bad remixes (at least for "Winner"). Even the b-sides of Winner were boring.
    I am starting to feel that our Boys are officially going through a phase of creativity gap.

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