I sometimes find it hard to admit to my friends, but I actually quite like Sophie Ellis Bextor. It's partly because she has some of the best eye shadow in pop, partly because she's the daughter of a former Blue Peter presenter and partly because she makes effortlessly classy pop records which you can imagine tapping your toe to in a nightclub or at the hairdressers.
Mixed Up World starts off sounding like the Pet Shop Boys doing a version of The Human League's Don't You Want Me, but has the added bonus of Sophie's trademark, smoked-too-many-fags drawl in a Neil Tennant-style confessional mode: "Cynicism rules the day / I know it has its place but I am really needing guidance now".
It's the ultimate in retro eighties chic, and has a much better chorus than Murder on the Dancefloor. I love it.
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