The backstory to this band is (sadly) slightly more interesting than the CD.

Pascal DeStijl is a musician and artist from France, who now lives in Manchester and Montpellier. He works for magazines, musicians and commercial companies, producing edgy designs.

The band was formed in France in 1995 by DeStijl and John Cleary, bassist. Subsequent albums include The White Stripes in 2011 — Jack White’s White Stripes had released an album called De Stijl, though upholsterer Jack named his album for De Stijl (“the style”), a Dutch art movement, which included the painter Mondrian. (The sleeve’s skull is more Damien Hirst than Mondrian, sadly). Nick Low did the same thing after Bowie’s Low, releasing the Bowi EP.

Whatever DeStijl sounded like on past albums (and we don’t know), Manchester-based M DeStijl has one clear influence: New

Order. He’s managed to coax Peter Hook to play on a couple of tracks and it has to be said they’re best on the album — not for nothing is Hooky a famous bassist. His distinctive sounds lifts the tracks on which he appears, which include opener I Can’t Explain. Track two Tough it Out loses the punch of Hooky’s bass but has nice vocals from Julie Gordon.

Overall, it’s a reasonably good New Order clone, dark, dancefloor rock; we’ve played it quite a lot and while it never grates, it never made us want to leap around in joy (division) either. New Order fans might like it though.