Soft Cell have shared details of their brand new album, Happiness Not Included, set for release in Spring 2022. The LP will be the first from Marc Almond and Dave Ball since 2002’s Cruelty Without Beauty.

The album’s release will be preceded by a new single, due out this Autumn.

“In this album I wanted to look at us as a society,” says Marc Almond, “a place where we have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality and decency, food before the rights of animals, fanaticism before fairness and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others. But in the album there is also a belief that there is a utopia if we can peel back the layers and understand what really matters.”

Dave Ball, meanwhile, describes *Happiness Not Included as “Science fiction stories for the 21st century.”

*Happiness Not Included is available for pre-order here.

The duo have also announced a string of live dates, kicking off on 10 November at Glasgow O2 Academy (full list below). Tickets go on general sale here from 10am on Friday, 6 August.

Read our Soft Cell interview here

*Happiness Not Included tracklisting

1. ‘Happy Happy Happy’
2. ‘Polaroid’
3. ‘Bruises On My Illusions’
4. ‘Purple Zone’
5. ‘Heart Like Chernobyl’
6. ‘Light Sleepers’
7. ‘*Happiness Not Included’
8. ‘Nostalgia Machine’
9. ‘Nighthawks’
10. ‘I’m Not A Friend Of God’
11. ‘Tranquiliser’
12. ‘New Eden’

LIVE DATES

Wednesday 10 November 2021                        GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY

Friday 12 November 2021                                    MANCHESTER O2 APOLLO

Saturday 13 November 2021                               LEEDS O2 ACADEMY

Monday 15 November 2021                             LONDON HAMMERSMITH APOLLO

Tuesday 16 November 2021                                LONDON HAMMERSMITH APOLLO

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Mercury Music Prize and Grammy Award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist, James Blake has announced his fifth studio album, Friends That Break Your Heart, due out 10th September 2021, via Polydor Records.

Blake joined Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 to premiere the album’s first single, Say What You Will alongside co-hosting the show.

The accompanying music video for the single is directed by Bear Damen and features a guest appearance from Finneas.

Of the single, Blake says: “The song is about finding peace with who you are and where you’re at regardless of how well other people seem to be doing. Comparison really is the thief of joy.”

The new record follows the Covers EP – a collection of Blake’s favourite covers, including his version of Frank Ocean’s Godspeed – and his 2019 album Assume Form which was his highest charting LP in both the UK and US to date.

James Blake’s first new full-length album in two years, Friends That Break Your Heart will feature collaborations from JID & SwaVay, Monica Martin and SZA. James worked closely with British artist Miles Johnston to design a cover reflective of the album. The result is a visual encapsulation of the emotions brought forth throughout the body of work.

Pre-order the album here.

FRIENDS THAT BREAK YOUR HEART  tracklisting

1. Famous Last Words
2. Life Is Not The Same
3. Coming Back (feat. SZA)
4. Funeral
5. Frozen (feat. JID & SwaVay)
6. I’m So Blessed You’re Mine
7. Foot Forward
8. Show Me (feat. Monica Martin)
9. Say What You Will
10. Lost Angel Nights
11. Friends That Break Your Heart
12. If I’m Insecure

Read more: Soft Cell announce new album

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