Andy Butler's dashing disco troupe Hercules & Love Affair returns with a second album, Blue Songs, on Moshi Moshi in the new year.
The outfit goes to London's Heaven on January 19 as first port of call on a UK tour, and that's as close to a sure thing as you can get for fans of soulful dance with an introspected twist.
Meanwhile the record's another corker, pushing the sonic envelope of its predecessor into deep house and ambient territories and unveiling a colourful new cast of collaborators including Kele Okereke of Bloc Party.
Butler spoke with us about the hook-up, for a track called 'Step Up' which appears on the album:
"I found out we had a really close mutual friend. And we went out one night in New York and it was just super-fun, almost immediately me and Kele were getting into mischief. I felt like I could say stuff to him that was maybe a little bit inappropriate, and he was OK with that.
"I came to him with a pretty straightforward, kinda Europop track. I was thinking it would be fun to do a kind of poppy house, London beat thing with lighter production. He started writing lyrics and we just hit it, we didn't really talk about anything else."
Tickets are available exclusively through www.hmvtickets.com at £16.50 a pop, but for an extra three quid you can pick up a copy of the album as well - nearly a fortnight before the official release date, January 31.
Get your ears round lead track 'My House', a kicking house jam with vocals from new band member Shaun Wright, here:
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_d.jpg "Magritte we tip our hat to you")
