( CNN ) -- Twenty-five years after the hit single `` West End Girls , '' can the Pet Shop Boys pull off songs that make you want to dance like it 's 1984 , but still reflect a social consciousness of 2009 ? Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe , shown at the BRIT Awards in February , are releasing their 10th studio album . The answer is the title of their latest album : `` Yes . '' The British duo will release their 10th studio album on April 21 in the United States through Astralwerks . `` Yes '' has been out in the United Kingdom through Parlophone/EMI since March 23 , and entered the Billboard UK albums chart at No . 4 . `` We thought that 'Yes ' just kind of summed up the theme of the album . It 's a positive , upbeat , euphoric pop album , '' keyboardist Chris Lowe said . `` It 's almost an answer to the question , 'Is that the Pet Shop Boys ? ' 'Yes ! ' `` Given how many different projects the duo has been involved with , it 's a valid question . In addition to the studio albums , they 've written a musical , `` Closer to Heaven , '' and a soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein 's 1925 silent film classic , `` The Battleship Potemkin . '' For `` Yes , '' the Pet Shop Boys worked with Xenomania , a production group known for collaborating with Cher and other pop stars . Xenomania co-wrote three of the tracks on `` Yes '' with Lowe and vocalist Neil Tennant , who write most of their own songs . Watch the official video for `` Love , etc . '' on YouTube . The Pet Shop Boys , who recently won an award for outstanding contribution to music at the 2009 BRIT Awards , `` felt very much at home '' at the house outside London , England , that Xenomania has devoted entirely to music , Tennant said . Every bedroom has a studio , and bands hang around downstairs waiting to record amid the sounds of instruments , record mixing and talking . `` You can hear this cacophony of music all day long , '' he said . Like a vinyl record , `` Yes '' is divided into two distinct halves : the happy pop introduction and the more `` weird '' experimental conclusion , Tennant said . The album also features guitar performances by Johnny Marr . `` Love , etc . `` , the album 's first track and currently No . 2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart , is a social statement about how money , shopping and celebrity do n't necessarily bring happiness , while the third track , `` Beautiful People , '' imagines that it must be great to have wealth and fame , Tennant said . `` At the end of the day , it 's an old-fashioned sentiment , but love is more important , really , '' Lowe said of `` Love , etc . '' `` Pandemonium , '' a love song inspired by the relationship between actress Kate Moss and singer Pete Doherty , was originally written for Kylie Minogue to sing , but she did n't use it , Tennant said . Media reports that they 'll never work together again are incorrect , however , he said . `` I think they exaggerated that , '' Tennant said . `` Yeah , so that 's not true . '' ( In a BBC story , Tennant and Lowe said they , like many songwriters , had n't heard back from Minogue after submitting their material . `` We wo n't be doing it again , '' Lowe told the BBC . ) Perhaps the most out-of-character song stylistically is the finale , `` Legacy , '' a meditation on politicians leaving office ( `` You 'll get over it '' is the main message ) . Tennant identified it as his favorite because of the poetry and the mystery in the music -- `` it continues to fascinate me , '' he said . `` The Way It Used to Be , '' a favorite track for both Boys , charts a relationship from its romantic beginning to its melancholic end , wondering `` what is left of love '' and longing to `` leave our promises behind / rewind and try again . '' With all this talk of love , Tennant is private about his own love life . As far as love in the album goes , though , `` Some of it 's real , and some imagination ; some of it 's memory , '' he said . The duo did not meet in a pet shop , but in an an electronics shop in London in 1981 . Tennant needed a piece of equipment for his synthesizer and , when he and Lowe started talking about music , the two hit it off . `` I 'm always struck since then by the sort of amazing look of our meeting , '' Tennant said . `` We happened to be in the same place at the same time , and it changed the rest of our lives . I always think it was an extraordinary thing . '' They started making music as a hobby with an acoustic guitar and a synthesizer , and played drums by banging on the table , Lowe said . `` It 's all been a gradual process really . We never sat down really and said , 'Let 's become pop stars , ' `` Lowe said . When they first recorded `` West End Girls '' together , the musical group did not have a name , Tennant said . They took the name Pet Shop Boys because they had friends who worked at a pet shop in West London known as the `` pet shop boys . '' They thought the name fit with popular rap groups such as the Beastie Boys . `` It has actually no meaning whatsoever . Chris used to be embarrassed by it , '' Tennant said . While influenced by hip-hop , electronic disco , and other genres from the beginning , the Pet Shop Boys have always emphasized the songs themselves , Lowe said , and they 're not `` purist '' about what kinds of instruments get used . In the beginning , they sampled everything from animal noises to broken glass for their songs . They even recorded the sound of a woman walking down a street in high heels for `` West End Girls , '' and the ambience of a cathedral for the 1987 single `` It 's a Sin , '' Lowe said . Their songwriting has perhaps gotten more sophisticated and experimental over time , Tennant said . `` In the '80s I never sang any harmonies on records . Now I do loads of harmonies . I 'm turning into Brian Wilson ! '' Tennant said . `` Yes '' continues the Pet Shop Boys ' tradition of having one-word titles for albums , such as `` Please , '' `` Bilingual , '' and the more recent `` Fundamental . '' The convention just developed and became a style that the duo decided to keep , Tennant said . `` It 's like e.e . cummings not having any capital letters -- it 's a signature thing , '' Tennant said . The duo is determined to branch into new areas . Lowe and Tennant 's next project is a ballet slated for 2011 based on a story by Hans Christian Anderson . Tennant said it is instrumental , and includes a mixture of electronic music and strings . `` The challenge of telling a story through music and dance is something that we 're interested in , '' Lowe said . Plans to tour the United States in the fall are under discussion , the duo said .
The Pet Shop Boys ' new album comes out in the United States on April 21 . `` Yes '' has two distinct parts : the upbeat introduction and the more mysterious end . Singer Neil Tennant says he never sang any harmonies in the 1980s . Tennant and Lowe did not meet in a pet shop , but in an electronics shop .