After announcing in 2007 an 'indefinite hiatus' (rather than a split) to their ten-year career, the all-girl Brighton indie four-piece Electrelane are back.

Rumours began early in the year via Twitter, and it was soon announced officially through their long dormant website that they were going to play a few festivals and gigs over the summer in the UK and Europe, but were regrettably not able to make it to the US.

So then, the band that were once the darlings of the music press and indie elite are set to return to the stage, and - depending on a few things like time (they're all a bit busy doing 'other things' these days and a couple of the members have moved to the US) and money (they ain't signed anymore) - also choice of studio. Releasing four albums between 2001 and 2007, Electrelane were neither mainstream nor massive, but nevertheless opened for the likes of The Beastie Boys and Arcade Fire at the peak of their below-the-radar fame.

Like a more punky Stereolab, or a less rippy-offy Elastica, they were a breath of fresh air in a decade that lacked a 'girls with guitars' band to really get behind. So we're quite sure everyone is glad they is back. We caught up with frontwoman, Verity Susman, to get the goss...

So, how's it going? Was it weird getting back in the rehearsal studio together again and going through the old songs?
Well, we started rehearsing in Brighton last Saturday and it's been going really well so far. It wasn't actually that weird playing the old songs together again as we'd all been practising for a bit on our own anyway - two of the band members live in the U.K. and two live in America so since we knew we were gonna play some shows we starting preparing independently. We were all a bit apprehensive once we found out we were going to be using the same room that we used before though. We thought it was going to be a bit of an eerie time warp sort of vibe but once we got in there it just felt fine and it's been really enjoyable.

You're going to play Field Day in August. How was that set up? Did they approach you or was it the other way round?
Our agent started letting all the promoters know that we'd be around this summer for gigs and they were the first people to get in touch and say that they wanted us to play. Then after we announced that we were going to do Field Day a lot more promoters became aware we were going to be playing again and then we started getting a few more offers.

Any other festivals planned then?
We're doing The Big Chill and some other gigs in London and also a show in Manchester and then some festivals around Europe.

Exciting times! Why did you decide to get back together in the first place?
We talked about it tentatively last year but with no definite time plan. We thought maybe this summer, maybe the next summer. We had conflicting schedules so we weren't sure it was going to work, but then it became clear that we could do some gigs this summer and we all just kind of decided to go for it. I think everybody missed it. We'd had a break of two or three years and we all felt that we were getting on and doing other things in our lives and basically just missed the band and wanted to play again. Our agent said that if they started trying to get us gigs again they would be able to, but we really didn't know if that would be the case. So it wasn't a certain thing; there was always the possibility that no one would want to book us.

How did you decide on the set list for the new shows? Will you be playing stuff from your whole back catalogue?
We had quite a big list and I guess we just chose the ones that everyone wanted to play. The live set is always quite heavy and so we tried to pick ones that are quite fast just to fit in with that, and we also tried to pick songs from each album. There were also songs that people had wanted to hear during gigs in the past that we hadn't played before and we just felt like we should play them this time around.

What have you been up to during your time away?
Three of us went to university to do various degrees and Emma, who lives in LA, has been training to be a scenic painter. I did my undergraduate degree while the band had been going for a year and managed to do it at the same time, but I wanted to do a Masters and another member wanted to get her PhD. Those kinds of things became more difficult to do with the band because we were touring more and more.

Why was it that you split in the first place?
Well, we never really talked about it in terms of splitting up. We always knew we might come back eventually. I think one of the reasons was that we'd been in the band for such a long time and everybody's schedules had to fit together and people were making individual decisions about what they wanted to do with their time, and in the band that was very difficult. You couldn't commit to doing anything else that was long term. Everything had to be kind of on hold. In the end we got to the point where we just wanted to do other things.

What's next? Any plans for a new album?
Yes, we've been talking about doing some new stuff and I think it's something we all want to do. It's just a matter now of finding the time and also the money, as we're not signed anymore.


Electrelane live dates:

5 August @ The Big Chill Festival, Eastnor Castle
6 August @ Field Day, London
16 August @ XOYO, London