Pet Shop Boys are no strangers to unusual collaborations, but even they were surprised when Paul Weller called. Out in July, the duo have remixed new Weller song Cosmic Fringes and Neil Tennant explained:
“It’s a symphonic remix in three movements. Weller’s [original] song lasts for about two-and-a-half minutes and our remix lasts for 12-and-a-half minutes! It’s got three different versions all linked together. Paul seems quite happy with it. It’s quite banging – he asked for banging and he got banging. He’s definitely up for anything.”
It’s one of many new projects PSB worked on during lockdown, including the recently-released Cricket Wife. Tennant told the Bigmouth podcast: “Chris and I did a lot of writing. We’ve written tonnes of songs, [including] a theatre piece. We’re both quite spontaneous so it’s when the mood strikes. Chris writes music for pleasure and we’re lucky in lockdown that he’s written a lot of stuff.”