Witty, stylish, clever and sexy, The Long Blondes have always set out to be different.

Their aim was to form a fantasy pop group - the kind of group Nico, Nancy Sinatra, Diana Dors, or Barbara Windsor would have been at home in.

What they got was something altogether better. Succeeding in being literate, flippant and heartbreaking - all at once.

In short, as fans gearing up for tonight's show at Oxford's Carling Academy already know, the perfect left-field pop band.

Sardonic South Yorkshire style icon Kate Jackson, guitarist Dorian, bassist Reenie, guitarist and keyboardist Emma and drummer Screech see themselves as the next chapter in Sheffield's bizarre musical heritage, with less in common with fellow local heroes Arctic Monkeys than their predecessors.

Instead they build on the suburban disco fantasies of the Human League, the opulent ridiculousness of ABC, and the seedy glamour of Pulp.

Musically they deliver knowing, and frequently disturbing narratives, out-of-control guitar lines and drum crashes. Imagine the Slits playing Roxy Music or Donna Summer reciting the collected works of Harold Pinter.

Signed by Rough Trade records - the label that brought the world The Smiths, the Strokes and the Libertines - they have finally released beautifully crafted debut album "Couples".

Legend has it that the recording of the album (with its deliberate, self-referential quotation marks added as a nod to Bowie's "Heroes" and Adam and the Ants' "Antmusic") took place under the watchful gaze of the band's so-called 'couples wall', constructed in the studio by the band, and featuring images of dynamic duos throughout history, including The Two Ronnies, Gilbert and George and Basil and Sybil Fawlty.

Reenie explains: "Situations arose when we would look towards famous couples for inspiration, entertainment or enlightenment.

"It was either fate or the onset of cabin fever but "Couples" seemed like the ideal title."

"Couples" is more than just 10 songs to be downloaded; it's a complete musical and cultural artefact

Emma elaborates: "A lot of the couples on the wall seemed like 'tragicomic' figures; the type of people Andy Warhol would have idolised given the chance, which appealed to our pop-cultural fetish.

"We decided to take this further by using snippets of dialogue by the likes of Peter Sellers and Kenny Everett as album interludes.

""Couples" is more than just 10 songs to be downloaded; it's a complete musical and cultural artefact."

Most of the songs relate to the relationships between couples, or at least ex-couples.

Even opener Century, a song expanding the Blondes' traditional subject matter, is still an ode from one century to its predecessor.

"Century was supposed to feel like watching a history programme about the Cold War," Kate explains.

"You feel a sense of disbelief that the world could have reached such a dangerous point, but also love and yearning for a now seemingly simpler time of space exploration, table lighters and mass-produced British-made cars.

"As with all relationships we have to look to the past, serenade it and then break away from it in order to realise the future."

To produce the album, the Blondes called on legendary DJ Erol Alkan - who has worked his magic for everyone from Klaxons, to Hot Chip and Daft Punk.

"Erol has a non-musical approach to production in the tradition of Brian Eno, which was very inspirational," says Dorian.

"The last thing we wanted was a self-satisfied big name producer who didn't care about the music or the band. With this album, we were hungry to prove ourselves and we needed a producer who felt the same."

And, that, most agree, is what they have.

* The Long Blondes play the Carling Academy tonight, with support from XXteens.

Door open at 6.30pm. Tickets are £12

4:16pm Thursday 17th April 2008

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