*Happiness Not Included (LP)

Soft Cell - frontman Marc Almond and producer/instrumentalist Dave Ball - are back with their fifth studio album *Happiness Not Included. It represents their first new album since they issued 'Cruelty Without Beauty' back in 2002.

One play of '*Happiness Not Included' reveals all of the traits that fans first adored Soft Cell for: that distinctive and striking balance between light and shade, hope and despair, the personal and the universal. Highlights include the yearning, airy pop of 'Purple Zone' which contrasts its uplifting sonics with Almond's darkly doomed lyrics, while 'Light Sleepers' drifts with a daydream elegance that neatly matches its subject matter. Elsewhere, 'Bruises On My Illusions' is bigger and more abrasive, its baroque-tinged synth energy elevated by theatrical vocal harmonies, while the pure grandeur of 'New Eden' closes with the album on a suitably cinematic note.