''Nonetheless'' is the fifteenth studio album by English

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

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 ...

, released on 26 April 2024 through the band's own label x2 and

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

. It was produced by James Ford and mostly recorded at his

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

studio. The band's first album for Parlophone since ''

Elysium Elysium (), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields (, ''Ēlýsion pedíon''), Elysian Plains or Elysian Realm, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philosophical sects and cult ...

'' in 2012, its four-year gap with '' Hotspot'' (2020) marks their longest period between studio albums to date. It was preceded by the single "Loneliness", released alongside the album announcement.

Background

''Nonetheless'' was composed during the

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

, when Chris Lowe and

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for '' Smash Hits'', and assist ...

were isolated at their respective homes. At Lowe's suggestion, Tennant learned to program with

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

, and the duo sent songs back and forth to each other. They found it refreshing to write for pleasure rather than to meet a deadline; Lowe remarked that he didn't realise they were making an album until Tennant sent his proposed track listing. The album title makes reference to their circumstances: "Nonetheless! We've carried on and done this." In a statement, Pet Shop Boys expressed that they wanted the album, both its dance tracks and ballads, "to be a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human", and called the 10 tracks "the strongest indicators of where we are today". They also said that producer James Ford had "dared" them to make their "sometimes quite complicated" demos more minimal in arrangement. Ford replaced the soft-synths with

analog synthesizers An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of vacuum-tub ...

, and every track has an orchestra "filling out the sound and bringing out the emotions in songs," according to Tennant.

Release

The album was released on 26 April 2024 in a variety of formats, including digitally, and physically on Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos, CD and multiple variants of coloured vinyl. The 2-CD and double white vinyl editions include a four-track EP titled ''Furthermore'', featuring new recordings of "

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

", " Being Boring", "

Always on My Mind "Always on My Mind" is a Sentimental ballad, ballad written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James (songwriter), Mark James, first recorded by Brenda Lee and first released by Gwen McCrae (as "You Were Always on My Mind") in Mar ...

" and "

It's a Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...

". On 22 November 2024, they released an expanded edition of ''Nonetheless'' with bonus tracks and demo versions of all the album tracks.

Artwork

The album cover photo (pictured), taken by

Tim Walker Timothy Walker HonFRPS (born 1970) is a British fashion photographer who regularly works for '' Vogue'', '' W'' and ''Love'' magazines. He is based in London. Life and career Walker was born in England in 1970. His interest in photography beg ...

, shows Lowe and Tennant, dressed in vintage black suits and white gloves, with light coming from their mouths. To achieve the effect, they held

bicycle lights Bicycle lighting is illumination attached to bicycles whose purpose above all is, along with reflectors, to improve the visibility of the bicycle and its rider to other road users under circumstances of poor ambient illumination. A secondary p ...

in their mouths.Pet Shop Boys (2024). "Photo session", ''Annually''. Tennant called the image simple and iconic, and suggested that it might say something about their music. The idea of using the lights came from Walker; Pet Shop Boys had proposed a basic concept of a formal portrait with blindfolds, and these were also taken during the photo session. A photo of the duo wearing red blindfolds, with their white-gloved hands in front of their faces, was used for the single "Loneliness".

Singles

"Loneliness" debuted on 31 January 2024 as a preview of the album. It was the last song written for ''Nonetheless'', inspired by the lockdown. Tennant described it as "an up sounding song with a lyric that starts off sad, but it turns around at the end."

Alasdair McLellan Alasdair McLellan (born 1974) is a British photographer. His work has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, also in London. Life and work McLellan was born in 1 ...

directed the video, following a closeted young man leading a double life in 1992

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. Bonus tracks: "Party in the Blitz" and "Through You (extended mix)". "Dancing Star" was released on 3 April in the lead-up to the album's release. It tells the story of preeminent dancer

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of his generation as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all ...

, who defected from the Soviet Union in the 1960s and became a star with

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

. The video, directed by Luke Halls Studio, includes historic footage of Nureyev dancing. The track has sounds of waves and seagulls from Lowe's original demo about the beach. Bonus tracks: "Sense of Time", "If Jesus Had a Sister", "Dancing Star" remixes by Solomun, and "Party in the Blitz" remix by

Superchumbo Tom Stephan (born June 6, 1970) is an American house music, producer, DJ and film director. He was born in New York, United States. He is also known as Superchumbo. Biography In 1990, Stephan relocated to London, England and studied film at ...

. "A New Bohemia", released on 4 June, expresses nostalgia for being part of a creative scene. Lowe's demo was titled "Avant Garde", and Tennant's lyrics were inspired in part by an exhibit about Les Petites Bon-Bons, a group of gay conceptual artists in the 1970s. The video was filmed in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

with cameos from

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

and Russell Tovey, and it was directed by Andrew Haigh, who used the Pet Shop Boys' Christmas 1987 ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' performance of "

" in his film '' All of Us Strangers''. Bonus tracks: "It's Not a Crime" and "I've Got Plans (Involving You)" (both written in 1982); "A New Bohemia" demo and remix by

Alex Metric Alex Drury (born 31st December 1981), known professionally as Alex Metric, is a British musician, DJ and producer. At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, he won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for producing the Silk City and Dua Lipa son ...

. "Feel" came out on 20 August, with a video directed by Corbin Shaw and Rawtape featuring actors Sam Bottomley and Tareq Al-Jeddal. The song had been offered to

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician. He serves as the co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers, which he formed with Dave Ke ...

for his 2010 debut album; the reworked version on ''Nonetheless'' is about visiting a loved one in prison, inspired by a biography on

George Blake George Blake ( Behar; 11 November 1922 – 26 December 2020) was a Espionage, spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the Minist ...

. Bonus tracks: "Everybody Will Dance", with a Superchumbo remix; a

Floorplan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to Scale (ratio), scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a struct ...

remix of "Loneliness"; and a German version of "Schlager-Hitparade" sung by Lowe, accompanied by a self-made video. "New London Boy" was released on 7 November as a double A-side with a cover version of "

All the Young Dudes "All the Young Dudes" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by the English rock band Mott the Hoople in 1972 by Columbia Records. Bowie produced the song, which he had given t ...

" by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. A separate remixes single was also issued. In keeping with the theme of "New London Boy", the cover photos are of Tennant and Lowe around the time they came to London, in 1972 and 1981 respectively.

Slava Mogutin Slava Mogutin (full name Yaroslav Yurievich Mogutin, b. April 12, 1974, Kemerovo) is a New York-based Russian artist and author, who works across different media, including photography, video, text, installation, sculpture, and painting. Life i ...

directed a video of "All the Young Dudes". The remix artists are Boy Harsher,

Richard X Richard Philips, better known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for art ...

, and I. Jordan. Additional bonus tracks: "Beauty Has Laid Siege to the City" and "Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus". A supplementary single of "All the Young Dudes" in a medley with "

West End Girls "West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London wh ...

", recorded with the

Manchester Camerata The Manchester Camerata is a British chamber orchestra based in Manchester, England. A sub-group from the orchestra, the Manchester Camerata Ensemble, specialises in chamber music performances. The orchestra's primary concert venue is The Bridg ...

, was released on 11 November, including an orchestral remix by Stuart Price. The medley had been performed with the Camerata at the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards on 10 November.

Reception

Commercial performance

''Nonetheless'' debuted at number two on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, selling 22,419 units its first week. It is the Pet Shop Boys highest-charting album since the compilation album ''

Alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

'' reached number two in 1995. In the U.S., ''Nonetheless'' was the first Pet Shop Boys studio album to fail to chart on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

, although it reached number 14 on the

Top Album Sales The Top Album Sales is a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's top-selling albums in the United States. The chart has been published since December 13, 2014, although the magazine also retrospectively recognize ...

chart and number three on the

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling dance music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by Nielsen ...

chart.

Critical reception

''Nonetheless'' received a score of 81 out of 100 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 ...

based on ten critics' reviews, which the website categorised as "universal acclaim". Victoria Segal of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' wrote that the album "shows the duo pulling themselves up to full songwriting height, not just forging on, but flourishing". Mat Smith of '' Clash'' called ''Nonetheless'' "an utterly brilliant, dependably polished listen" and one of "the best moments" by the duo. Reviewing the album for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', Gary Ryan described it as "peppered with richly-drawn characters, and esoteric cultural references" and a "lush, impressive collection that upholds their status as pop greats". ''

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 ...

''s Helen Brown felt that the album "maintains the band's strict quality control without any notable change in sonic style" but "proves that the Pets have still got the brains, still got the hooks". John Murphy of ''

MusicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

'' said that it "both sounds very like Pet Shop Boys while also managing to grow and evolve their sound" and observed "a huge streak of melancholy and reflection running through the record". Simon Heavisides of ''

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 ...

'' concluded that ''Nonetheless'' "feels airy and welcoming" unlike the Pet Shop Boys' recent albums and "resonates emotionally in ways that befit elder statesmen who can look to the future while comfortably acknowledging the past".

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Nonetheless'' and ''Nonetheless Expanded Edition''. Pet Shop Boys Vocals, programming, keyboards, guitar * Chris Lowe *

Additional vocals * Abimbola Amoako-Gyampah * Senab Adekunle * Nile Bailey * Dawn Joseph (expanded edition tracks 1, 3) Orchestra Elysian Collective * Emma Smith –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* Flora Curzon – violin * Freya Goldmark – violin * Ronald Long – violin * Anna de Bruin – violin * Kotono Sato – violin * Jennymay Logan – violin * Lucy Wilkins – violin * Hazel Correa – violin * Ros Stephen – violin * Patrick Dawkins – violin * Preetha Narayanan – violin (tracks 1–5, 7–9) * Simmy Singh – violin (tracks 6, 10) * Morgan Goff –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

* Alison De Souza – viola * Zami Jalil – viola * Amy May – viola * Laura Moody –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

* Sergio Serra – cello * Daisy Vatalaro – cello * Val Welbanks – cello * Serafina Steer –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

* Adam Chatterton –

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Graeme Flowers – flugelhorn, trumpet * David Hopkin – flugelhorn, trumpet * Richard Ashton –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

* Carys Evans – French horn * Joseph Ryan – French horn * Jon Stokes –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Chris Augustine – trombone * Samuel Freeman –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

* Barnaby Slade –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

Technical * James Ford – production, mixing,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(all tracks); orchestral

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

; brass arrangement; additional programming, keyboards, guitars, percussion, drums, flute *

Matt Colton Matt Colton (born 30 March 1975) is an English mastering engineer and member of the mastering group of the Music Producers Guild. He has mastered recordings for artists such as Muse, Coldplay, James Blake, George Michael, Hot Chip, Gary Nu ...

– mastering (''Nonetheless'') * Andy Baldwin - mastering (''Furthermore'') * Pete Gleadall – additional engineering (''Nonetheless''); mixing (''Furthermore'') * Jeremy Murphy – orchestral engineering * Luke Pickering – orchestral engineering * Animesh Raval - orchestral engineering (expanded edition tracks 1, 3) * Ryan Jacob – brass arrangement, brass fixing, brass conductor * Richard Jones – orchestral arrangement, strings conductor, piano (expanded edition track 4) *

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...

- orchestral arrangement and conducting (expanded edition tracks 1, 3) * Laura Moody – strings fixing * Jas Shaw – additional mixing Artwork *

Studio – photography * Kate Phelan – stylist * Terry Barber – make-up * Farrow/PSB – design

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2024 albums Albums produced by James Ford (musician) Parlophone albums Pet Shop Boys albums X2 (record label) albums