Soft Cell

BIOGRAPHY

When Soft Cell played a spectacular, sold-out show before 20,000 emotional fans at The O2 in September 2018, the London concert was seen by all and sundry as a grand finale. It had been billed as One Night: One Final Time, leaving devotees in no doubt that a duo who had done so much to define the sound of British electronic pop in the 1980s were saying hello to wave one last, passionate goodbye. At least that had been the idea. Singer Marc Almond and instrumentalist Dave Ball had originally gone their separate ways in 1984 before reuniting for two years in the early 2000s to make the Cruelty Without Beauty album. The intention at the O2 had been to draw a line under a roller-coaster ride that had seen Soft Cell secure three Top Ten albums and six Top Ten singles, including 1981's all-conquering Tainted Love, while setting a template for synth acts from the Pet Shop Boys to Years & Years.

But such was the reaction – and the sense of purpose the pair rediscovered onstage – that the big adieu turned out to be a new dawn. The reality is that Marc and Dave bring the best out of one another as performers, and the sense that there was still plenty of mileage left in their partnership was inescapable. Now the latest fruits of a bond that was first forged in the art department of Leeds Polytechnic in 1977 are here in the shape of a new studio album, *Happiness Not Included. Out in February 2022 through a new deal with BMG, the album – only the band's fifth full LP in 41 years – reiterates their ability to take big themes and big emotions and wrap them up in wonderfully melodic three-minute pop songs.[READ MORE]