SIMIAN (pictured) make music from battered instruments they rescue from junk shops and decorate their albums with pictures of bizarre taxidermy. The freaked-out four piece support The Toes on the Big Break tour coming to South Wales this month. Matthew Blythe spoke to the band.

WHEN daylight fails and the rooftops feel the first shadows of twilight, listen for the sound of Simian, warbling, willowing its way from a darkened basement studio, past iron railings, lovers on shaded balconies and mutant half beasts posing statuesque below the beams of a dusty Victorian attic.

Simian thrive on escapism and remorselessly promote daydreaming as a healthy, praise worthy pursuit. It's not like they have a bad earthbound life, it's just they prefer exploring the corners of their own minds to the humdrum of modern life.

The band is based around a core of electronics with each of the four members playing and sampling an assortment of unusual instruments about it. Drummer James Ford is equally fruitful with a flute, an eight track and a melodica as he is with a sampler.

Jas Shaw plays lap steel, keyboard and synthesiser.

Alex MacNaghten plays bass, guitar and sings. And Simon Lord plays the acoustic guitar and sings nice songs he also writes.

The results buzz, click and whir like a closed chest of wind-up toys, out of sight, audible and very much in mind. It's dreamy, dark and completely detached from reality bar a preoccupation with Victoriana.

Time spent with Simian behind closed eyes is like a stroll through the Great Exhibition or another gentlemanly place, glistening on the outside, seething on the inside.

The Wisp, from the EP of the same name, hangs this reverberating music hall din off the bass line from Massive Attack's Protection.

Turn Around, from the same release, is identical in feel to Simon and Garfunkle's Silent Night with its smooth acoustica and unnerving spoken word accompaniment.

So it's not totally original, but a vibrant creativity pulses in the sounds therein.

Much of the music is left to chance, hence the choice of the band name Simian to emphasise its ape like approach to the battered technology its members rescue from flea markets, junk shops and the like.

The band's singles and debut album covers repeat the same theme using the work of German artist Thomas Gundelf who works in 'creative' taxidermy, stitching bits from different animals together.

The front cover of the Wisp EP is blessed with a picture of a baby deer with added bat wings.

At first glance it looks cute but a more sinister tone becomes apparent later rather like falling asleep to Simian - you go down easy, but come to a little on edge, like a character from Edgar Alan Poe.

The band is currently based in London although their genesis was in Manchester. Jas and Alex were school friends in Kent, later meeting Stoke boy James Ford on Manchester's music scene.

The three worked under the name Trial and Error, the band's record label, until they met singer-songwriter Simon in whose work they found a structure for their experiments in electronica.

"Recording the album was the first thing we did," said James. "We got on with making music to see if we could."

The one and only record label the band took the results to was Source, a French label set up by Phillipe Ascoli: "We heard they had a very open-minded music policy," said James.Simian's philosophy of music is similar to the equally other-worldly Goldfrapp with whom they toured Germany last month.

They hope to follow in the alpine wonder's footsteps and record soundtracks.

* Simian play Cardiff University Union with The Toes, The Unabombers and Andy Votel as part of The Big Break Tour on Thursday November 29. Tickets are £3. For more information dial (029) 2078 1516.