The Horn are Jonny Taylor (voice, guitar), Danny Monk (guitars, programming), Nick True (bass), Ed Cox (keyboards) and Alex Moorse (drums) but it hasn’t always been like this: several moments ago, songwriter and erstwhile Friends Of Gavin bassist Nick True – to the uninitiated, F.O.G. were an acclaimed, north London five-piece who toured the UK with REM at the end of the last century, and ended up never releasing an album – recruited multi-instrumentalist Danny Monk to see what magic might occur. Monk, a Sound Technology graduate from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (founded by Paul McCartney) had a studio in Baker Street and much production/recording experience throughout the USA (including the Village studio in West Hollywood), and It’s his eclectic chutzpah that gives the Horn its mid-Atlantic appeal. Correspondingly, once you hear Danny’s superb guitar work on Passion, you’ll understand why he cites late ‘70s New York No Wave art-rockers Television as a major influence and why “Room on Fire, Is This It? and anything by the Ramones” are not far behind.

Born in Massachusetts, but relocating to Cornwall at the age of two – his thespian upbringing ensured that by the time he was nine, he was treading the boards at the Minack Theatre – Jonny Taylor turns out to be the ace in the pack. Having said that, he easily mightn’t have been: in 2011, after travelling through Thailand and Cambodia, Jonny ended up breaking his leg in a horrific motorcycle accident in Laos, before multiple surgeries ensured he would walk again two years later. Once back in the UK, and several years after this, Jonny, Danny and Kingston-born drummer Alex Moorse formed a band called Montrell – Elton John played their music on his Rocket Hour Radio Show last year - before fate intervened in the form of Nick True and (Edinburgh-born, Newcastle University graduate) keyboardist Ed Cox, who joined forces to make up the finer reaches of The Horn.

At this point in proceedings, you’d be forgiven for thinking, if the Horn didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent them, and you’d be right. Indeed, one listen to their songs will convince you, you’ve had them knocking around the house for years. But whilst New Order, Talk Talk and the Lotus Eaters all get an outing as influences, you also get fabulous song titles and subject matters: the Department Of Fate is so-monikered after a phrase in Goldfinger lyricist Lesley Bricusse’s 2006 autobiography - “The Department of Fate has taken good care of me” - and conjures up an image of a world where our comings and goings are controlled by a benevolent bunch of faceless civil servants; the Ashes to Ashes-tinged No.8 Dreams features a lachrymose dreamer still dreaming whist fighting at ‘shit parties’; and Do It Now is a Seize The Day call to arms for anyone disaffected and tardy enough to demand such things. The latter is surely the Horn’s signature song and a distinct reminder that it’s possible to throw the Strokes, Lightning Seeds and Psychedelic Furs into the mix and still get more than the sum of the constituent parts. But, hey, that’s where we came in.