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This close to its release, the Pet Shop Boys’ latest album has been appearing in a number of reviews, and no one could have hoped for better feedback.

The album is being touted as one of the most accessible, as well as one of the most poppy of the duo’s twenty-eight year history together – or at least, it’s one of the most accessible since ‘Very’ was released in 1992. The overall tone of the album is one of sunshine and sweetness (at least in comparison to their body of work – a more apt description might apply the word ‘bitter’ in conjunction to the ‘sweetness’). The lighter musical mood is especially prevalent when one compares this current work to the band’s previous album, 2006’s ‘Fundamental’.

This surprising new tone from the Pet Shop Boys becomes a bit easier to understand when one considers that the production house Xenomania was involved in the makings of ‘Yes’. However, in comparison to Xenomania’s body of work, these songs are on the subdued side – which is a testament that this was truly a collaboration between the two groups of artists.

The album is host to varying sounds within the modern electro pop genre; “Beautiful People”, sounds as if an eighties version of Neil Tennant penned a song for a blue eyed soul vocal artist. The soul ballad features both Owen Pallett and Johnny Marr. There are also a couple of songs on the album that are being championed as being able to match any in the band’s entire body of work in quality (no easy feat) – 'King of Rome' and 'The Way It Used to Be.'

Of the union between Pet Shop Boys and Xenomania, Neil admits that it was his idea. On this album, both he and Chris Lowe had come up with so many poppy sort of songs that it seemed like Xenomania was the perfect selection for the work.