GOODBYE polka-dot dresses and farewell Joe Lean, Rose Elinor Dougall and RiotBecki, but hello to the new Pipettes, who have re-emerged with a line-up fronted by Gwenno Saunders and her sister, new recruit Ani.

Their second album, Earth Vs The Pipettes, awaits lift-off on June 28, but first comes the band’s re-launch on the live circuit, next stop Fibbers in York tonight.

“They’d been touring the same album for about four years, and Rose was only 17 when they started and you go through a lot of changes,” says Ani. “You can tell that she’s moved on with her new record; she’s more folky, and I just think that the girls wanted to change.”

Ani first came on board two years ago, joining sister Gwenno after being in a “real girl band”, Genie Queen, managed by Andy McCluskey, of Orchestral Manoeu-vres In The Dark. “I thought we were great, but perhaps it wasn’t what the industry was looking for, so when Rose and RiotBecki left The Pipettes, I said I could do it,” she says.

Initially, the new line-up had three female vocalists but one dropped out. “Together with the four boys in the group, Gwenno and I just had a strong idea of where we would go next,” says Ani.

Where the Pipettes’ new world is going next is space. Earth Vs The Pipettes has been written with the idea of imagining what a disco in space would sound like if all the dance-floor styles from the past 50 years were loaded on to a rocket and fired into the stars.

“Producer Martin Rushent came and saw us and said ‘You could be the new Abba’, so we’ve gone for big shiny pop,” says Ani. “It would seem like we weren’t moving on if we wore polka dots again, so we’re now looking more sci-fi, everything in silver.

“It’s a really jolly, upbeat album when we’re in such a miserable place now in Britain.”