Pet Shop Boys – Release (CD)

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe built their reputation on electronic pop architecture, but Release, from 2002, found them stripping things back considerably, leaning into live guitar work courtesy of Johnny Marr. The result sits in an unexpected corner of their catalog, quieter and more reflective than the duo's dancefloor peaks, and the 2017 remaster gives those understated arrangements the sonic clarity they always deserved.