The creation of a truly stable chemical compound from two pure elements is very rare in music, so there was no reason, when art-disco indie kids Franz Ferdinand and the theatrically arch post-glam rockers Sparks started working on a song together for fun (as they did in the early 2000s), that anything would come of it other than an enjoyable night mucking about with instruments.

But as both bands are known for taking a cerebral, arch approach to their art, they found their shared musical voices made for a new, third presence in the room. And having spent the next 10 years dispensing with all scheduling conflicts, they settled down to work. Luckily, textspeak gave them a perfect name (clue: it’s all in the initials), 6 Music leapt upon their new material like bees do with nectar, and the rest is, if not history, then certainly chemistry.