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The final single release from '*Happiness not included' will be a double A-side single featuring 'Light Sleepers' alongside a brand new Christmas re-recording of 'Last Chance' from the 'Cruelty Without Beauty' album. Now with a full live brass section and plenty of sleigh bells and festive trimmings, Marc and Dave are both very excited about 'Last Chance' coming around again, as they both felt it was 'the single that got away'.

As well as being released digitally on 16th November, we are also releasing a limited edition CD single with Christmas card which is available exclusively through Lexer Music. Limited to just 1000 copies, the CD also features special extended mixes for both tracks alongside the originals, making it the perfect Christmas gift for that special person in your life (even if that special person is yourself!) and is available to pre-order using the button below. We are expecting stock to be delivered in the first week of December so we have plenty of time to get your order to you in time for Christmas.

We've also made a brand new video for 'Light Sleepers' and, if you’d like to be among the first to see it then click the button below to visit the official Soft Cell YouTube channel, subscribe and hit ‘Notify me’. The premiere will take place at 3.30pm (UK) today (Friday).




SOFT CELL - LAST CHANCE (CHRISTMAS MIX) / LIGHT SLEEPERS - (DOUBLE A SIDE CD-R SINGLE + A5 XMAS CARD) - PRE-ORDER
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Pre-Order
Soft Cell - Last Chance (Christmas Mix) / Light Sleepers - (Double A Side CD-R Single + A5 Xmas Card)

Soft Cell’s 2022 return with ‘*Happiness Not Included’ has proven to be well worth the 20-year wait, as the album received a deluge of critical acclaim as it raced into the Top 10 - making it their highest charting studio set in almost 30 years.
Their collaboration single with Pet Shop Boys, ‘Purple Zone’ captured the attention of synth-pop devotees everywhere as it united two of the genre’s most influential duos. It quickly became Soft Cell’s biggest airplay hit in years, as it was named Record of the Week and then A-listed at Radio 2, as well as reaching Number 1 in the UK Physical Singles Chart.
The band round off one of their busiest years ever with the release of a double A side single 'Light Sleepers' and 'Last Chance'.
'Light Sleepers', a highlight track of the '*Happiness Not Included' album, features a corresponding music video that explores the multifaceted experience of being human. Directed by Charlie Ann Max, a multidisciplinary artist creating works centred on vulnerability, expansion and connection, the video demonstrates a process through which we can find the most fulfilled versions of ourselves - by having love and compassion for all parts of ourselves, even our 'shadows'. Starring esteemed performer and winner of season 7 of the American RuPaul's Drag Race, Violet Chachki, Violet portrays a young Marc Almond experiencing the process of self-acceptance displayed using motifs of 'darkness' (shadow) and 'lightness' (persona).
With lyrics written in an early morning café in Los Angeles, Marc Almond comments, “Light Sleepers is one of my favourite tracks on the new album, I love Gary Barnacle’s sax part and Dave’s dreamy early morning chords”. Dave Ball adds “I was with my friend Jon Savage, a concert pianist, in his garden studio in Essex and really wanted to do something quasi-orchestral and pastoral sounding. This is one of only two ballads on the album and my favourite song on it”.
The double A side also features a brand-new Christmas re-recording of a track from Soft Cell’s previous album Cruelty Without Beauty. A huge fan favourite, and according to Marc Almond, ‘the natural successor to Say Hello, Wave Goodbye and one of my preferred Soft Cell songs period, why was this never a single?’, ‘Last Chance’ has been re- reworked by Dave Ball and album producer Philip Larsen, and is now adorned with a full live brass section and added Christmas sparkle, with the upcoming festive season firmly in mind.
The CD-R featuring the Christmas mix of 'Last Chance', alongside 'Light Sleepers', as well as extended versions of both tracks is now available to pre-order exclusively from Lexer Music. Limited to just 1000 copies worldwide, the CD-R also includes an A5 sized Soft Cell Christmas card featuring the Last Chance artwork and comes inside a blank silver envelope.
NB: All products ordered with a pre-order will be dispatched together close to the latest pre-order release date. If you want earlier dispatched for another product then please place separate order(s).
Format: Double A Side CD-R Single + A5 Xmas Card
Label: BMG
Release Date: To Be Confirmed

https://www.lexermusic.com/soft-cell-li ... -cd-single

We’re pleased to announce that Soft Cell will be playing their first ever live show in Ireland on Saturday 3rd June 2023. As with the Essex show, support will come from OMD and Heaven 17.

Tickets will be available for €49.90 (including booking fee) from 9am UK on Friday 9th December on the link below.

https://www.ticketmaster.ie/venueartist/199894/945613

Alongside the two German dates, the two outdoor events in Essex and Dublin, and the six Let’s Rock headline shows, next year is going to be a very busy year indeed.

We regret to inform you that we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Soft Cell show in Bochum, Germany, due to scheduling issues.

Unforeseen circumstances sometimes mean having to cancel shows. Events have many moving parts and third parties involved, and in this instance it was impossible to go ahead.

This does not affect the Soft Cell show scheduled for Berlin, which will go ahead as planned, and we hope to see you there.

The promoter is working to refund all ticket buyers for Bochum.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

SCHQ

coming soon

Announcing not one but two companion albums to accompany Soft Cell's 2022 album '*Happiness not included'. Both are coming on 28th July...

'*HAPPINESS NOW EXTENDED' is a limited-edition double-vinyl album featuring full length versions of all the tracks from the original album, plus bonus track 'Nighthawks'.

'*HAPPINESS NOW COMPLETED' is a CD album of bonus tracks, alternative mixes and project highlights featuring 19 tracks - ten of which are brand new - designed to fit into the back flap of last year's '*Happiness not included' CD album.

ORDERS & INFORMATION: https://www.softcell.co.uk

Soft Cell are to follow up 2022’s acclaimed Top 10 album *Happiness Not Included with the release of two expanded editions via BMG on 28th July.

*Happiness Now Extended is a limited-edition double vinyl album, featuring longer versions of all the 12 tracks from the original version, and including the single releases – airplay smash Purple Zone (with Pet Shop Boys) and Bruises On All My Illusions. It also sees the inclusion for the first time on vinyl of one of the album’s highlights, Nighthawks, with New York performance artist CHRISTEENE. The double 12″ LP is restricted to 1000 copies only.

So fruitful were the original *Happiness Not Included sessions that the CD version of the album, subtitled *Happiness Now Completed, features 10 brand new Marc Almond and Dave Ball tracks, plus unreleased mixes, remixes and single-only tracks. The new 75-minute set fits snugly into to the rear section of the existing CD book format. Both formats feature brand new sleeve designs.

*Happiness Now Completed also includes a newly re-recorded version of fan favourite Last Chance, with the addition of a full brass section, plus cover versions of Fad Gadget’s Back To Nature and X-Ray Spex’s The Day The World Turned Day Glo.

Lead track First Hand Experience Of Second Hand Love was originally recorded by Giorgio Moroder, a huge influence on Soft Cell. Dave Ball created the backing track shortly before Marc Almond’s near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2003, and it was two decades before Marc vocals were recorded.

“Marc and I were really keen to use all the music we made during the *Happiness sessions,” says Dave. “Our original plan had been to make a 16-song album, but that turned out to be over an hour long, so we whittled it down to 12, and decided to save the other songs for a rainy day. It’s now time to release them. We’re already discussing the prospect of another Soft Cell album, so it’s important to get these songs out now so we can start from scratch on more material.”

“I’ve always said that I’m up for new Soft Cell music if Dave has the tunes,” adds Marc. “If you’d asked me, a few months before the O2 concert, whether Soft Cell had a future, I’d have said no. But everything seemed right again from that point. Once I got used to the idea of new music, I became really excited.

“The original working title for *Happiness Not Included had been Future Nostalgia, but Dua Lipa annoyingly came up with the same idea before our album was ready, so that was off the table. As far as the studio goes, Dave and I work at a distance. He sends me ideas and tunes, and I write the lyrics and record my vocals. That’s not a new thing, either. Soft Cell has always been that way. Things just happen… and sometimes they don’t.”

The versions on *Happiness Now Extended were created between the end of 2021 and March 2023 using Dave’s original parts as well as other previously unheard Marc vocals, woodwind from Gary Barnacle as well as other contributors – intended as traditional 12” mixes rather than remixes which expose more of Dave Ball’s instrumentation than shorter mixes normally allow.