When Murry the Hump split up in September 2001, fans of jaunty Welsh guitar pop were heard to be sobbing loudly into their cardigans.

So naturally, many were delighted to hear that they hadn't really split up after all, but had simply sacked their drummer, ditched all the old songs and lost the rubbish name.

The arrival of The Keys was announced in 2002 with a debut gig at Cardiff's Electricity Club in July, followed by a number of other low key acoustic shows in and around Cardiff.

A debut single, Gurl Next Door/Listen The Leaves Are Falling, was released by the Boobytrap singles club i... (+) expand

When Murry the Hump split up in September 2001, fans of jaunty Welsh guitar pop were heard to be sobbing loudly into their cardigans.

So naturally, many were delighted to hear that they hadn't really split up after all, but had simply sacked their drummer, ditched all the old songs and lost the rubbish name.

The arrival of The Keys was announced in 2002 with a debut gig at Cardiff's Electricity Club in July, followed by a number of other low key acoustic shows in and around Cardiff.

A debut single, Gurl Next Door/Listen The Leaves Are Falling, was released by the Boobytrap singles club in December 2002. A seductive slice of Brian Wilson-esque summer pop to warm any cold winter night, it was followed by the single Strength Of Strings in June the following year, and the neo-psychedelic Love Your Sons & Daughters in September.

An album, the rather boringly-titled but really rather good The Keys, was released by Too Pure in October 2003. Featuring all the singles plus classics-in-waiting Driving School and From Tense To Loose To Slack, it was an eclectic and confident debut. (-) collapse