For his debut solo album, Untitled, Marc Almond formed a hodgepodge band called the Mambas -- the most prominent collaborators were Matt Johnson and Annie Hogan -- and made a conscious departure from Soft Cell. There are some touches of synth-pop here and there, but for the most part the record is considerably more ambitious, covering torch songs, tortured balladry in the vein of Scott Walker, covers of the Velvet Underground and Syd Barrett, and straight pop. It doesn't ever add up to anything cohesive, but the parts are intriguing.