Swedish italo disco / synthpop duo Sally Shapiro announce their fifth studio album, Ready To Live A Lie out May 30th and today are sharing the first single “The Other Days”. Taking inspiration from synthwave, italo disco, nudisco, indie pop and bossanova, the album becomes their second for Italians Do It Better – again mixed together with label founder Johnny Jewel (Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire).
“The Other Days” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eIwjvEdUMvI?si=PzVUYfjT6509Smif
“The Other Days” on other streaming services: https://idib.ffm.to/theotherdays
“The Other Days” on Bandcamp: https://sallyshapiro.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-days
Made up of producer Johan Agebjörn and an anonymous female vocalist who uses the pseudonym Sally Shapiro; the duo are known for their dreamy, melancholic sound and nostalgic homage to 1980s Italo disco and gained international recognition with their debut album Disco Romance (2007), which was then followed by My Guilty Pleasure (2009), Somewhere Else (2013) and their debut for Italians Do It Better Sad Cities (2022).
The name “Sally Shapiro” has always referred to both the duo, as well as the enigmatic anonymous singer whose real name is something else. But “Sally” is also a third entity: the fictional character singing about her love stories. It’s now been 18 years since Sally Shapiro’s debut album Disco Romance, that took influences from italo disco and indie pop with a naive and youthful flavor, as if everything “Sally” did was to “walk in the moonshine thinking about my love affairs”, as she once put it.
Ready To Live A Lie may, however, be the duo’s darkest album yet. The lyrics have shifted from the euphoria of first love to exploring “Sally’s” struggles in long-term relationships—love triangles, boredom, resentment, and the lingering sense of loneliness.
On the record, Johan said, “We live in the era of lies. We deceive ourselves, our partners, and those around us. On social media, we paint pictures of perfect lives, only to be fed falsehoods in return—by algorithms, newsfeeds, and politicians.”
Sally added, “But perhaps, at times, we need these deceptions to get by. Maybe loneliness is somehow inescapable and we simply do our best to navigate life.”
Ready To Live A Lie is out on Italians Do It Better on May 30th and includes the duo’s acclaimed Pet Shop Boys cover “Rent.”
Pre-save album: https://idib.ffm.to/readytolivealie
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]