The 14th studio album from Pet Shop Boys, Hotspot, was released in January 2020, before COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the world. Given what a dumpster fire the year became, it was easy to forget this came out in the last year. Everything from the start of 2020 seems like ten years ago. But indeed, the album is not even a year old yet at the time I am writing this. Hotspot completed PSB's trilogy of albums recorded with producer Stuart Price. First was 2013's Electric, pure electronic dance music from start to finish with a lot of longer songs geared towards the dance floor. 2016's Super was next, a more straightforward pop album. Hotspot stands as the most eclectic of the three collaborations with Price.
Hotspot runs the gamut of the many styles Pet Shop Boys excel at. Need your dance fix? The album kicks right off with the euphoric "Will-O-The-Wisp" and it's a storming track. There is also "I Don't Wanna",a song Tennant mentioned was intended as something they would have written for Madonna. Need more pop hits from the pop kids? "Happy People" has a 90's synth-pop vibe to it, a song that easily could have fit on an album like Very. "Dreamland", a duet with Olly Alexander of Years & Years, and the album's lead single, has a chorus that will implant itself in your brain, a truly catchy, classic PSB pop song. Need something a little different from Neil and Chris? Look no further than "Monkey Business", a slice of soulful dance funk with a shimmering keyboard line that sounds designed to fill dance floors around the world.
Where Hotspot differs from the two previous Price produced full lengths is in the slower material. There was one ballad on the last two albums combined. Here there are four, almost half the album. I've always felt Pet Shop Boys' catalog of ballads was overlooked in favor of their dance floor fillers and on Hotspot they add to their list of superlative slow jams. "You Are The One" is a reflective love song and "Only The Dark" brings an electro feel to its tale of love. Single "Burning The Heather" would have fit perfectly on 2002's Release. Featuring ex-Suede member Bernard Butler on acoustic guitar, the wistful, introspective track is a new PSB classic, simply a gorgeous melodic acoustic pop/rock song. Rounding out the ballads is my personal favorite, "Hoping For A Miracle". This one sounds like it could have been cut from Behaviour at the last second, waiting for the right album to appear on. Musically it is stunningly beautifully, lyrically it affirms that Tennant remains one of the best lyricists of his time. It has been speculated the tale of someone out of hope refers to both Brexit and Boris Johnson, but Tennant says the song is another inspired by Tony Blair. Regardless of the inspiration, the lyrics universally fit any number of scenarios. It's a masterpiece of songwriting.
And that is one thing you can't take away from Pet Shop Boys. Their consistency. Fourteen albums into a marvelous career, they've yet to deliver a bad record and Hotspot was one of 2020's best.
Favorite tracks: "Hoping For A Miracle", "Will-O-The-Wisp", "Monkey Business", "Burning The Heather"
Hotspot was released January 24th, 2020 on x2 Recordings.
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