Acts lined up for Lounge on the Farm this weekend include Mystery Jets, making a return visit to the festival.

Neill Barston caught up with guitarist William Rees.

If you hear a more 1980s-sounding track this summer than Mystery Jets' Two Doors Down then you’ll more than likely be in a retro disco.

Its unashamedly synth-enhanced chorus and accompanying Kylie-esque video has been hailed as one of the gems of 2008 by the national press.

The London-based quartet have courted some controversy with their significant shift in style since starting out several years back.

Their second album, Twenty One, has made a minor dent in the charts.

As their guitarist William Rees explains, it was important for them to move forward as a band from their early roots.

"You’ve got to move forward and progress. There will always be people who will say they like our first album better.

"But I can’t think of anything more boring than being stuck in a rut," said the 23-year-old.

Their ambitious new album has clearly given them renewed focus. It’s replete with age-old themes of love, lust and a youthful wide-eyed wonder have struck a chord with their fanbase.

Though they’ve yet to crack the top 10 charts, it’s not something they are especially losing any sleep over right now. Tours dates in America and Europe have kept them more than occupied.

Their recent duet with Kate Nash with a cover of Motown classic Stop In The Name of Love proved it’s not just the 80s they’re prepared to delve into.

But it’s the decade of big-hair and equally big egos has been the single biggest influence on them recent times.

"I wouldn’t say the whole of the new album is very 80s, but Two Doors Down definitely is.

"We were young kids back then and I suppose it has seeped into our music and want to encourage people to listen to stuff from back then."

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By their own admission, they came close to splitting up after being forced to move from their early base at Twickenham’s Eel Pie Island.

This favoured quirky haven of artists and bands was one of the Rolling Stone early musical haunts, playing host to intense all-night parties.

"We just got into playing music as an escape from boredom," reveals William of their earliest moments as a band as kids with singer Blaine Harrison’s father Henry, who until recently played as a second guitarist for them.

It was through him that they quite by chance arrived at their name - when a toy plane mysteriously flew through one of his windows one day.

Their rise to indie recognition is all the more impressive given their singer suffers from spina bifida.

Since they signed to Warner’s sub-label, 679 Recordings, in 2006, the pace of their schedule has been pretty relentless. Yet it seems they are determined not to let anything stand in their way.

"Blaine is just used to his condition, he doesn’t know any different.

"It does make things difficult for him sometimes but he wouldn’t want to be doing anything else," added Will, who shares a house in Mile End with Medway songwriter Kid Harpoon who has attracted headlines after touring with the Kooks.

"He’s a crazy man, but he is a musically inspirational person," laughed the guitarist.

The band have already made plenty more friends in Kent after supporting the Zutons at Bedgebury Pinetum last month.

Their eagerly-awaited return at Lounge on the Farm is destined to make the festival shine that little bit brighter.

The Mystery Jets play the Lounge on the Farm festival on Saturday. For full information see www.loungeonthefarm.co.uk