Stuck between two separate camps of zeitgeist-grabbing greatness, East London based duo Heartbreak are both flag-bearers for the much name-dropped Italo disco revival, and also affiliates of the ever-high quality scene based around Australia’s Modular Records. They’ll be playing with the label’s Presets here, and are on their way around America in the company of both The Presets and Cut Copy when we catch them on the phone.

‘I think a lot of people have been writing the word ‘Italo’ in magazines for three or four years now,’ says Chester-raised producer Ali Renault on the resurgence of a previously 80s-bound style of European disco, which he has a trainspotter’s love for. ‘People’s curiosity is now getting the better of them, they’re digging out a few records and going to the clubs, deciding if they like the sound or they don’t. its perfect timing for us, really, although there is a danger that things might all go a bit ‘new rave’.’

Singer Sebastian Muravchix – whom Renault met on the set of a soap opera they were both working on in Muravchix’s native Argentina – handily shares an affection for the Italo sound. His austere and sometimes over-dramatised vocals are the most contentious part of a sound that places itself somewhere between Giorgio Moroder and the Scissor Sisters, though, and they come from an unlikely place. ‘It’s Ozzy Osbourne in his Black Sabbath days,’ says Renault, ‘Seba’s a big fan.’ Now, surely a combination like that is worth its very own scene?

Supporting The Presets at the Classic Grand, Glasgow, Wed 5 Nov; Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Thu 6 Nov