Erasure - The Neon

Neon is the eighteenth studio album by British synth-pop duo Erasure, released in August 2020 via Mute Records.

Erasure are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of singer-songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke (ex Depeche Mode, Yazoo). Their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That" was released in 1985 and following the chart success of their fourth single "Sometimes", the duo became one of the most successful artists of the late 1980s to mid-1990s.

From 1986 to 2007, Erasure achieved 24 consecutive Top 40 hits in the UK, while having three Top 20 hits in the US on the Billboard Hot 100; "A Little Respect", "Chains of Love", and "Always". By 2009, 34 of their 45 singles and EPs had made the UK Top 40, with 17 climbing into the Top 10. At the 1989 Brit Awards, Erasure won the Brit Award for Best British Group.

The duo are most popular in their native UK and mainland Europe (especially Germany, Denmark and Sweden) and also in South America (especially Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Peru). To date, they have penned over 200 songs and have sold over 25 million albums worldwide.

Their new album Neon follows their previous album World Be Gone (2017), which reached the UK Top 10, becoming their highest charting UK album in 24 years.

Written and produced by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, the new album sees the band deliver a ten track collection of uplifting and optimistic synth-pop songs, connecting their past and future and glistening with hope.

The album was recorded in Atlanta and mixed in London. The band has stated that they tried to return to their original sounds. Clarke used some of his older synths and Bell described the new album as "going back to the beginning".

Taking inspiration from pop music through the decades, from bands Andy loved as a child through to the present day, he explains, "It was about refreshing my love – hopefully our love – of great pop. I want kids now to hear these songs! I wanted to recharge that feeling that pop can come from anyone."

The album debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, the duo's highest-charting album since I Say I Say I Say (1994).

This album is a limited edition on neon orange coloured vinyl housed in an orange foil blocked sleeve with fold out booklet and download code, pressed in Europe via Mute.