was a much chirpier collection than the previous album, Blind. Recorded after a lengthy hiatus (self-enforced by Wheeler and co-founder Dave Gavurin's break to have a child) Static. It's a lovely collection of summery pop rock, all balancing on Harriet Wheeler's delightfully sparkling voice. But if this makes Satic & Silence sound shallow it's only by association.

Time may not have been as kind to Static & Silence *as many of its contemporaries: Unfortunately one can easily see why their poppy, lighthearted fare seems so suited to its frequent role as either atmospheric soundtracking to stateside teenage dramas (their music has been used in both *Buffy and The OC) or as a signifier for shows wishing to convey 'young, carefree and hip' (this album's 'Another Flavour' was used as the theme tune to comedian David Baddiel's show). Their legacy in the UK may have faded somewhat, but their influence on US college-based rock is still felt today. True enough, their sound may have seemed to have been mainly forged out of a melding of those two 80s icons, The Smiths and The Cocteau Twins – all fey vocals and flanged, jangling guitars – but it was a wilfully more commercial take on the formula. The Sundays' career seems, with hindsight, to have been one of a band who may have been a little before their time.

The sundays static and silence rar