Cowboy

Whether or not it was an internal rethink or the duo chose to respond to outside factors, including getting an American deal with Madonna’s Maverick label, on Cowboy Erasure shifted from the self-titled album’s experimentalism back to the realm of the focused synthpop song form they knew so well. If it’s not quite as wall to wall memorable as their biggest chart years, it’s still an engaging effort, with songs like “In My Arms” and “Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me” showing that even as pop music itself was changing their catchy formulas still worked well.