Sex without consequence. No such thing in 80s New York when Aids struck, and tore the vibrant gay club scene at the seams. Scissor Sisters’ new album Night Work celebrates the rebirth of this concept. Jake Shears spent a fateful few months in Berlin last year, where he witnessed a return to the libertine ways that saw synth-time New York thrive. Inspired by this and drinking tea in Mitte with Neil Tennant, he conceived an album of raw sensuality and digital aesthetic – Madonna’s Stuart Price provides his “sparkle fingers” touch – Jake Shears caught up with us in the middle of a New York afternoon for his take.

“One of the concepts of the album was me thinking about New York in the eighties and what was going on here – I was living in Berlin for two months last spring I was going out to clubs and pausing and looking around me with this incredible sense of deja vu – I couldn’t tell what decade I was in.

 “I started thinking – what would music have sounded like if Aids had never happened? I wanted this record to pick up that left off. Some of the tracks – I’m thinking of Sex and Violence in particular – are very American Psycho. I’m a horror fanatic. I feel that track sounds very Pet Shop Boys. It’s funny because Neil Tennant, who has been a great guiding light for this record, can’t hear it at all. I’m like ‘can’t you hear yourself??’  And he says [mimics a disapproving mother] ‘Pet Shop Boys would never have a melody like that!’.

“I got to know him a lot in Berlin, we were sitting out having tea one afternoon on a very sunny day one of the main stretches, and he suggested using Stuart. When we finished the record I went straight and played it to him. His support was really integral.”

They recorded the album in Stuart Price’s studio in Acton, as well as spending time working on it in the Bahamas. Whether the album is more 80s, more dancey, Jake is sure of his definition: “it’s the first record we’ve made that you can actually have sex to”. Go forth and multiply.

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