Hear Soft Cell's New Single 'The Space Inside'
(Reybee) Electronic music legends Soft Cell, a.k.a. singer and frontman Marc Almond and multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Ball, have released "The Space Inside," a darker electronic pop track showing the heavier, moodier side of forthcoming new album Danceteria. This will be Soft Cell's sixth and final studio album, set for release September 25, 2026 via Republic of Music.
Released digitally on all platforms today, "The Space Inside" is an escapist pop anthem featuring majestic vocals from Marc Almond and epic ravey synths from Dave Ball. "The Space Inside" transports us back to the queer leather bars and sex clubs of Manhattan's Meatpacking District in the early '80s, where the city's night owls find themselves "searching for redemption in the night's decay".
This track directly contrasts with previous single "In Heaven (When I Dance With You)," a lighter summery poppy cut from Danceteria with a feelgood, kitschy video by collage artist Vicki Bennett, starring Marc and Dave performing on a heavenly dancefloor and floating with synths through the clouds.
A big, classy and playful farewell to 47 years of Marc and Dave making music as Soft Cell, Danceteria features career-defining performances from the electronic pop legends. Reminiscent of Sparks, Pet Shop Boys and with lyrics Lady Gaga would kill for, the album takes you on a vivid journey through a day in early '80s New York, bouncing round the clock from night to bleary daybreak and headlong back into the club. The 12-track album is available to pre-order here on vinyl and CD, with the CD expanding to 14 tracks including two bonus tracks, "Crackland" and "What Is Your Morality."
Marc provides a snapshot into the album: "Danceteria is a love letter to New York in the early '80s. The time we spent in New York - where we recorded our first three albums - shaped us both as artists and people. To celebrate this period is a fitting farewell to Dave Ball and the final Soft Cell studio album."
Equally a tribute to the late, great Dave Ball who unfortunately passed away on October 22, 2025, Danceteria is one of the last bodies of work Ball co-wrote and produced before his death. Almond led the obituaries, describing Dave as a "brilliant musical genius". The world's media followed, hailing him as an electronic music pioneer, plus music stars including Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys, Mute Records' Daniel Miller, Cabaret Voltaire and Richard Norris from Dave's techno duo The Grid contributing an outpouring of elegiac praise. Dave finished Danceteria two days before he passed away and it is in full tribute to him that the album release went ahead as planned.
"There can be no more recordings of Soft Cell without Dave, it would not be possible," explained Almond. "The sad reality is that Dave Ball was half of Soft Cell, and live work aside, I can't write Soft Cell songs without him."
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