At the tail end of the Britpop boom, Mansun materialised like a dark and stormy cloud over the era's Beatles-obsessed melodicism. The four-piece band combines the tempestuous sonic palette of the Verve with brooding New Romantic angst recaptured from the ‘80s. In these epic, string-laden songs, waves of amped-guitar meet the tortured androgyny of Bowie and the stealthy orchestrations of a James Bond soundtrack.