But beneath the surface lies a lingering oddness which doesn't go away when the record finishes. Something haunts the ether and one feels compelled to return to the curious sleeve (depicting a bunny, a teddy and a froggy – it's been filed under ‘Childrens Listening' in some stores) to withdraw the disc and begin to examine the mystery.

'Wish Thing' is the result of three years of labour by Grant Gilbert, Laurie Mayer and William Orbit. Aided by the money of Miles Copeland and assorted bank loans, their set up includes themselves, production, management and design companies all under one roof and a 24 track studio under another (the grange) roof.

William: "There's a type of music around now where everything leaps out at you and it's intended that way. In our music you have to go looking for some of the things. Some records can be fully assessed after the second play with nothing left to discover. We hope our music will have something left to discover in the sixth or sixtieth listening."

Grant: "The music is textural. The textures of the background music are as important as the main melody. We're not giving the front more status than the back as most records do. After about three hearings people begin to adjust their perspective. The problem we have is that some people might not feel motivated to listen to it more than once. People can't automatically adjust their perspective."

To continue reading this article and to discover many more (over 140,000 words-worth!), purchase Mick Sinclair’s Adjusting the Stars: Music journalism from post-punk London.