After seven UK platinum albums, collaborations with Dusty Springfield, David Bowie and Liza Minnelli, a ballet for Sadler’s Wells and a score for Battleship Potemkin, the duo were presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the BRIT Awards in 2009.

Pet Shop Boys have released international mid-september, their 11th album, ELYSIUM. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe recorded ‘Elysium’ earlier this year in Los Angeles, the first time they have recorded an album in America. They co-produced the record with US producer Andrew Dawson, who has won three Grammys for his work on Kanye West’s albums.

‘Elysium’ features twelve new songs which display a warm, deep electronic sound, and includes orchestral arrangements by Joachim Horsley, Andrew Dawson and Ben Leathers. Backing vocals are provided on many of the tracks by veteran singers Oren, Maxine and Julie Waters (whose long career spans sessions with The Jackson Five to Adele), and singer/songwriter James Fauntleroy.

Pet Shop Boys said: “It was inspiring to make an album in Los Angeles, and to work with a producer from a different musical genre, who has brought a new dimension to our music”.