 They took their name from a 17th-century British painting.Their sound was influenced by an art school sensibility, The Velvet Underground, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and latterly The Stone Roses.They released two singles on Manchester-based Sheer Joy Records, "Sympathy (For Two Girls)" (1991) and "Starhappy" (1992), both of which made the Top 20 of the UK Indie Chart, and issued a promo single with remixes by The Orb.