Soft Cell Announce The Final Album From Marc Almond And Dave Ball 'Danceteria'
(Reybee) Electronic music legends SOFT CELL, aka singer and frontman Marc Almond and multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Ball, are set to release Danceteria, their sixth and final studio album, on September 25, 2026 via Republic of Music.
Listen to first proper single proper "Danceteria" through the dazzling discotastic video made by collage artist Vicki Bennett at the link above. Out today, the title track is a joyous, celebratory burst of disco pop and as the album opener and a statement of intent. It is Soft Cell at their very best with Almond's iconic vocals soaring over Dave's masterful John Barry-esque minor chord progressions. There couldn't be a more fitting disco banger to pull back the dusty velvet curtain and beckon you into the heady, romantic and deliciously dark world of "Danceteria."
Danceteria the album is a big, classy and playful farewell to 47 years of Marc and Dave making music as Soft Cell and features career-defining performances from our electronic pop legends. Reminiscent of Sparks, Pet Shop Boys and with lyrics that Lady Gaga would kill for, the album takes you on a vivid journey through a day in early '80s New York, bouncing round the clock from night to bleary daybreak and headlong back into the club. The 12-track album is available to pre-order now on vinyl and CD, with the CD expanding to 14 tracks including two bonus tracks: "Crackland" and "What Is Your Morality."
Marc provides an initial snapshot into the album: "Danceteria is a love letter to New York in the early '80s. The time we spent in New York - where we recorded our first three albums - shaped us both as artists and people. To celebrate this period is a fitting farewell to Dave Ball and the final Soft Cell studio album."
Danceteria is equally a tribute to the late, great Dave Ball. The final album is one of the last bodies of work Ball co-wrote and produced before his sad, untimely passing on the October 22, 2025. Almond led the obituaries, describing Dave as a "brilliant musical genius". The world's media followed, hailing him as an electronic music pioneer, plus music stars including Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys, Mute Records' Daniel Miller, Cabaret Voltaire and Richard Norris from Dave's techno duo The Grid contributing an outpouring of elegiac praise. Dave finished Danceteria two days before he passed away, and it is in full tribute to him that the album release went ahead as planned.
It is also because of Dave's passing that Danceteria simply has to be the last Soft Cell album, as Marc explains:
'There can be no more recordings of Soft Cell without Dave, it would not be possible. The sad reality is that Dave Ball was half of Soft Cell, and live work aside, I can't write Soft Cell songs without him."
Tracklisting:
Vinyl:
Side A
1) Elusive (Vinyl Edit)
2) Danceteria
3) The Space Inside (Vinyl Edit)
4) Times Square (Vinyl Edit)
5) Two Of A Kind
6) The Rainbow Room (Vinyl Edit)
7) In Heaven (When I Dance With You)
Side B
1) Decadence Is Hard Work
2) Losing Yourself
3) After Hours
4) Wave To America
5) Out Come The Freaks
CD:
1) Elusive
2) Danceteria
3) The Space Inside
4) Times Square
5) Two Of A Kind
6) The Rainbow Room
7) In Heaven (When I Dance With You)
8) Decadence Is Hard Work
9) Crackland
10) What Is Your Morality
11) Losing Yourself
12) After Hours
13) Wave To America
14) Out Come The Freaks
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