Marc Almond is filled with "anxiety and angst" whenever he starts a Soft Cell project.

The synth-pop pioneers release their first album in two decades, 'Happiness Not Included', next month, and while Marc has admitted he still has a great "spark" with bandmate Dave Ball, he always feels uneasy going into the studio.

The 64-year-old musician added how their last studio effort, 2002's 'Cruelty Without Beauty', was a "disappointing experience", and they felt compelled to head back into the studio resurrect the "magic" they create.

He said: "Whenever I do anything with Soft Cell, I'm always full of anxiety and angst.

"But I thought, 'It would be kind of great to do it now' - the last one, [2002's 'Cruelty Without Beauty'] ended up being quite a disappointing experience, and I thought, 'Well, this will be a chance to do something that does kind of get it more right.'

"And what it all boils down to is, I just really like writing songs with Dave.

"I still feel this spark there of some magic happening."

Marc also quipped that he'd previously felt like he "hijacked" Dave's band because he penned all their songs at the start.

He added: "I kind of hijacked his band really, because Dave wrote all of the lyrics at first."

The duo went their separate ways with one final gig at The O2 in London in 2018, before reuniting to record the new material.

And the 'Tainted Love' hitmaker has insisted there has never been any animosity between them.

He said: "I think it's great, the way it turned out.

"There was no animosity and no fights and no fall out.

"The trouble with that is, because you've got a 17-year gap, other people will come in and fill the space that you left - you bring something out and someone goes, 'Oh it sounds like the Pet Shop Boys or Erasure or Depeche Mode."

As for making new music, Dave revealed he has some ideas up his sleeve, but Marc has admitted he doesn't see him working on another Soft Cell record for a few years yet.

Dave said: "I've not discussed this in-depth with Marc, but I'm working on some ideas already for the follow-up, various things which are all top secret.

"I don't think we've got that much time, otherwise, we are both going to be in our mid-to-late-seventies."

And Marc - who has also had a successful solo career, selling more than 30 million records worldwide - said: "I'm just not sure at the moment.

He told MOJO: "If I did another Soft Cell album, It wouldn't be for quite a few years.

"But too many times in my life I've said, 'Never say never', and I always regret it."