After dazzling us last year with her debut solo EP — a self-titled, house-ified affair that was 2011’s very best, in fact — Beth Ditto has rejoined Gossip bandmates Brace Paine and Hannah Blilie for a new album, A Joyful Noise, out May 22.

The trio’s first album since 2009’s Music For Men, A Joyful Noise is produced by Xenomania mastermind Brian Higgins, whose curriculum vitae boasts tunes by Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, and Girls Aloud. Higgins’ hand in the project promises to leave some prominent pop fingerprints all over Gossip’s dance-punk proclivities. For her part, Ditto claims to have listened to nothing but ABBA while recording A Joyful Noise.

Our first glimpse into this amazing musical marriage arrives via first single, “Perfect World.” Pretty accurately titled, I’m loving the track’s Pat Benatar-meets-The Motels vibe. In my world, Ditto can do no wrong.

Here’s the tracklisting for A Joyful Noise:

01 Melody Emergency
02 Perfect World
03 Get A Job
04 Move In The Right Direction
05 Casualties Of War
06 Into The Wild
07 Get Lost
08 Involved
09 Horns
10 I Won’t Play
11 Love In A Foreign Place

I’m no horticulturalist, but poppies are definitely having a moment in pop music. Not only is Gossip focused on the flower’s power (check the “Perfect World” cover art and lyrics video above), so is Garbage, whose forthcoming first single is called “Blood For Poppies.” Which “G” band do you reckon will be next to see red?

Purchase Gossip – “Perfect World” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.