The 1980s have been a rich seam for pop of late, with bands remodelling the jerky punk-funk of Talking Heads and Gang of Four or taking inspiration from the Cure. However, London duo Grand National - Lawrence Rudd and Rupert Lyddon, whose partnership started in a Police tribute band - seem more steeped in the decade than most. Their 2004 debut Kicking the National Habit dipped into PiL, Talk Talk and Hall and Oates but added twists of everything from Latin percussion to ska to produce one of the year's finest records.

However, despite rave reviews, it never quite took off and Grand National face doing it all again. They have expanded to a six-piece, which at least has the side effect of making the venue look more crowded. Their new songs seem to have ventured deeper into European gloom, with echoes of Depeche Mode and Comsat Angels. Rudd - all short, jet-black hair and skin-tight leather jacket - has the looks to be in a Brit-flick but his incongruous geezer persona is more reminiscent of Minder, an impression bolstered when he bizarrely launches into the show's theme song, I Could Be So Good for You.

He could be, too, if he cuts the slightly cheesy dips into influences - New Order's Blue Monday, Prince's When Doves Cry - and develops a proper sense of mystique.

Gradually, the band manage to remind the small but keen audience what the original fuss was all about. The new An Emotion has a chorus that may make them famous. A double whammy from their debut - the shimmering funk of Talk Amongst Yourselves and Playing in the Distance - gets the audience gyrating. Now they just need to do the same thing on a national scale.

· At Bestival, Robin Hill Country Park, Newport, September 7-9. Details: bestival.net.