Bands break up. It's a fact of life. Sometimes it's a blessing (ahem, Creed); sometimes it's an unfortunate loss that everyone chooses to blame on Yoko. In the case of the Long Blondes, it was a tragic necessity. In June of this year, lead guitarist and songwriter Dorian Cox suffered a stroke, which has left him unsure about his ability to play music anymore, as he related in a post on the Sheffield quintet's MySpace blog earlier this week. Irony being what it is, the band also happened to release a collection of singles on the very same day in their native U.K. As the future is unwritten, this may not be the last we hear from this promising group, and the other band members have vowed to continue working, whether it be together or in other projects. (Singer Kate Jackson, in particular, will probably do fine.) But it won't be the Long Blondes, which was always more of Cox's vision.

Their song "Once and Never Again," from the first LP, is one of my favorites, and now seems sadly appropriate. At least the music the band made--despite their dissolution--will remain fun, dance-friendly disco pop. I mean, I once saw Dorian eat a banana on stage. Does it get any more fun than that?