''*Happiness Not Included'' is the fifth studio album by British

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synth-pop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball (electronic musician), David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit versio ...

, released on 6 May 2022 through

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

. It is their first studio album in 20 years, following '' Cruelty Without Beauty'' (2002). It was preceded by the release of the single "Bruises on All My Illusions" in 2021 as well as "Purple Zone" in 2022, the latter a collaboration with fellow British synth-pop duo

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

. In 2023 two companion albums were released to accompany the album. 'Happiness now completed' features additional tracks and remixes recorded during the album sessions & 'Happiness now extended' features extended versions of all the original album tracks.

Critical reception

On review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, ''*Happiness Not Included'' received a score of 78 out of 100 based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Dave Simpson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it a "wryly hopeful record" with "some trademark electro bangers". Writing for ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'', Chris Todd summarised the "flavour" of the album as "one of world weariness peppered with salacious reflections of tales of past". Roisin O'Connor of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' remarked on the downbeat nature of the lyrics, writing that while Soft Cell "were hardly upbeat to begin with, ..this is downright miserable" although acknowledging that they "have good reason to be" and concluding that "it's not all hopeless – at least the music is good".

Track listing

Charts

References

2022 albums BMG Rights Management albums Soft Cell albums {{2020s-album-stub