Scissor Sisters

Pop music has exploded in an edgy, sexy, supremely tuneful commotion - thanks to the uncommonly brilliant sounds of the Scissor Sisters.

Creative sparks first ignited five years ago, when a then 19-year-old explosion of energy called Jake Shears was introduced to a multi-instrumentalist who goes by the title of Babydaddy. Fired up by a passion for solid songwriting and off-the-wall humour, they joined forces to write hook-studded tunes.

Scissor Sisters bring together rollicking guitar riffs, throbbing synths and a whole bunch of wicked lyrics. Their influences skitter through glimmers of vintage Bowie, Roxy Music and Elton John to Giorgio Moroder, burlesque theatre and rock opera. At college, Jake had majored in Fiction Writing, and numbers like the catchy glam rockin' groove of 'Laura' ('I gotta give myself one more chance/To be the man that I know I am') weave feature-length stories through song. Sometimes, it sounds like they're partying hard on cheap champagne; at other points, the moods are downtempo and beautifully, surprisingly wistful: radio-friendly soundtracks for the morning after.

With three unmistakably individual and attitude-packed New Yorkers at the core (Jake: 'I would have never got together with this group of people in any other place'; Babydaddy: 'We do what we want without compromising'), Scissor Sisters' mission to inject fun and frisson back into pop culture has just gotta be big. Cutting edge has never sounded more irresistibly decadent