The Divine Comedy on Something for the Weekend: We hired a statuesque model for the video. I had to stand on a box'

"Having made two albums with a chamber vibe, I was thinking, Where do I go from here? I started hearing your Suedes and Saint Etiennes, and Blur were referencing stuff from the 60s and 70s too. I could see the way the wind was blowing. That sounds quite knowing, but I already loved John Barry, the Kinks, Adam Faith and, of course, Scott Walker. I'd come up with a very eurocentric chord sequence, not the type you get in rock'n'roll, almost slightly Pet Shop Boys."

"Watching the 1995 adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm, I noticed that the grandmother's repeated line, There's something in the woodshed, scanned with the tune I was writing. The conversation between the woman in the song and the would-be Lothario evolved from that line. Of course, the guy gets his comeuppance, because that's how my mind works. He goes down to the woodshed and the woman's heavies assault and rob him. It was all a ruse."

"I returned to my favourite galloping snare drum groove, which had worked well on the last song of the previous album. That had been inspired by a documentary featuring Eurovision songs from the 60s, which included a clip of France Gall singing Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son for Luxembourg. I thought, That's the best sound I've ever heard! In those days it was harder to find a song again so I was working from memory."

After two albums with a chamber vibe, the songwriter moves toward 1960s and 70s pop influences, noting Suede, Saint Etienne, Blur, John Barry, the Kinks, Adam Faith and Scott Walker. A eurocentric chord sequence, unlike rock'n'roll progressions and with a Pet Shop Boys feel, shapes the new material. A repeated line from the 1995 Cold Comfort Farm adaptation, "There's something in the woodshed," becomes the melodic seed for a song about a would-be Lothario who is tricked, assaulted and robbed by the woman's heavies. Recording choices include a galloping snare drum inspired by Eurovision, a Hammond organ driving "Weekend," recorded giggling, and a spoken Terry-Thomas voice later omitted live.

Read at www.theguardian.com