Pop history is full of originators who have seen other artists waltz to success with their ideas, and Curve are a classic example.

Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday blueprinted the combination of a pale, angst-ridden singer backed by quasi-industrial pop in the early 1990s, then split in 1994, only to see virtual soundalikes Garbage rise to superstardom.

Delicately worried rock tunes such as Want More Needs Less suggest a lightness has crept into their previously icy musical approach, although Halliday's lyrics have hardly lightened. Ironically, at this late hour, they have come up with the best song of their career, in Perish's surprisingly moving tale of two doomed lovers who "stay together for the sake of our memories".

However, there is still the impression of a band similarly hung up on what might have been.