Credit: They are the Pipettes

the thought of seeing myself in large proportions

The Pipettes are the best band in Britain today. That's a fact, OK? And to prove it, they're now set to release their debut album, 'We Are The Pipettes'. It's a lush collage of 60s pop, of Motown, of rock'n'roll, of witty lyrics, of gorgeous harmonies, of dance routines, of singing into a hairbrush in front of the mirror, and of smiling from ear to ear.

The band formed in 2003 in Brighton, the brainchild of svengali guitarist Bobby. But the all-boy 'backing band' (The Casettes) take a backseat to the three prettiest girls you've ever met: Rose, Gwenno and Becky. The swoonsome trio sing of love, lust and dancefloors over the hookiest pop songs this side of, well, anything, lightly dusted with perfect strings and horns and timpanis and all sorts. If you don't love this album, you're clinically dead.

Daniel Robson took a deep breath, steadied his heartbeat, changed his underwear and picked up the phone to chat with Rose. Are you jealous yet?

Hello Rose. Are you Pipettes happy with your wonderful debut album?
"Yeah, we are. We're really happy that after all this time we've finally got a finished product, you know. I think it's a really good representation of what we've been talking about."

Is it what you'd hoped it would be?
"I think so. I mean it's always difficult. We wanted to make sure there was a big difference between the live sound and the record. Having strings and horns and all that overblown stuff is what we've always thought about."

How did you arrange all the strings and horns?
"One of our producers, Andy Dragazis, was quite involved in those arrangements. I think our drummer Joe helped out too."

Given that you weren't totally happy with your past recordings, were you nervous to go into the studio this time?
"I suppose so. But we've been playing these songs for such a long time that we were just ready to get it done. And also, doing those small bits of recording in the past gave us a benchmark to work against, so that we knew what we didn't want as much as what we did want."