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Pet Shop Boys
Fundamental
(Parlophone/EMI)
A lot of dance music is just about mindless hedonism. And that's OK; in fact, a lot of it probably should be. But Pet Shop Boys, thankfully, are a regular reminder that it doesn't have to be.
Take Fundamental. The title of this ninth studio album from Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe might suggest it's some sort of old-school, back-to-basics outing. Not so.
Fundamental is actually a reference to the religious fundamentalism that led to 9/11 and the war on terror. And this dozen-track disc is a thought-provoking examination of its consequences and effects, with Tennant and Lowe using global issues as metaphors for personal tales -- and setting them to irresistibly groovy backdrops.
Psychological probes post-9/11 paranoia to a pumping Kraftwerkian beatbox and bass synth. The Sodom and Gomorrah Show takes reality TV to task as the disco ball spins and the sequencers glisten. Luna Park likens America to a giant amusement park. Indefinite Leave to Remain and Integral weigh in on immigration and domestic surveillance. And the funky I'm With Stupid is laced with references to Dubya and Tony Blair.
But the topical heft of the lyrics doesn't weigh down the accompanying tracks. If anything, it seems to have inspired the Boys to step up their musical game apace. And so they do, with stylishly sleek backdrops that combine techno-blip grooves and synths with sweeping orchestrations, crunching guitars and even live drums.
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Put it together and you have one of Pet Shop Boys' most ambitious and relevant discs -- and one that proves dance music can be aimed above the shoulders as well as below the waist.
Track Listing:
1. Psychological
2. The Sodom and Gomorrah show
3. I made my excuses and left
4. Minimal
5. Numb
6. God willing
7. Luna Park
8. I'm with Stupid
9. Casanova in hell
10. Twentieth century
11. Indefinite leave to remain
12. Integral