In 2018, Soft Cell played their “last show” at the O2 Arena in London. But it appears that the English duo did not in fact break up. Instead, Marc Almond and Dave Ball have a new album ready to go called *Happiness Not Included, which will be released next year. It’ll be their first full-length since 2002’s Cruelty Without Beauty.

“In this album I wanted to look at us as a society: 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,” Almond said in a press release. “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.”

Ball noted that the album was “recorded remotely during a world pandemic” and that it contains “science fiction for the 21st century.” The band has some shows lined up in the UK for the fall and they’ve shared a teaser for the album, though no official single just yet. There is a tracklist, however, which you can check out alongside the teaser and tour dates below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Happy Happy Happy”
02 “Polaroid”
03 “Bruises On My Illusions”
04 “Purple Zone”
05 “Heart Like Chernobyl”
06 “Light Sleepers”
07 “*Happiness Not Included”
08 “Nostalgia Machine”
09 “Nighthawks”
10 “I’m Not A Friend Of God”
11 “Tranquiliser”
12 “New Eden”

TOUR DATES:
11/10 Glasgow @ O2 Academy
11/12 Manchester @ O2 Apollo
11/13 Leeds @ O2 Academy
11/15 London @ Hammersmith Apollo
11/16 London @ Hammersmith Apollo

*Happiness Not Included is out next year via BMG. Pre-orders are here.