Scissor Sisters

The self-titled debut arrived in 2004. Laura and Take Your Mama sound different from the group’s audacious disco interpretation of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, but all share an appetite for transforming familiar musical gestures. Piano-led rock, falsetto and a precise electronic pulse become parts of a coherent personality. Filthy/Gorgeous gives that personality a more openly nocturnal edge, while Mary makes space for an unguarded ballad.

The group emerged from New York’s queer underground and found a particularly large audience in Britain. That movement from a specific scene into mainstream pop is central to the records’ character. The songs do not smooth away every eccentric detail to make the journey. Instead, the details become some of the strongest hooks.

Ta-Dah followed in 2006 with I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, co-written with Elton John. Its buoyancy is almost irresistible, but the album also has the sharply comic I Can’t Decide and room for less obvious turns. Night Work, released in 2010, pushes the band towards a harder, more concentrated dance-rock sound. Magic Hour later adds the sleek Only the Horses and the theatrical club conversation of Let’s Have a Kiki. The most rewarding way into Scissor Sisters is to let those moods coexist. Their warmth does not depend on politeness, and their camp does not rule out emotional weight. A good song can be a performance, an invitation and a small act of defiance all at once.