Jackson continues alone

Following the Long Blondes split, Kate Jackson has announced she's going solo:

"It's the first time I've talked about it but that's my plan," she said. "I'm just beginning but I think it will reflect my personal music taste a bit more than the Long Blondes, which was a collaborative thing.

"I've only just started and a lot of the influences will overlap so hopefully fans of the Long Blondes will like what I do."

She's also told 6Music about Dorian's stroke and its effect on him abnd the band:

"It was actually two days after we got back from our American tour and we have no idea what caused that," Jackson told 6 Music.

"Obviously, it was a complete shock for all of us, something that we've had a bit of time now to come to terms with.

"It does mean that he's unable to play the guitar at the moment and we don't really know when he'll be able to do that again. Unfortunately we've had to take the decision to split up."

The quintet have released two albums and were critically praised for their latest offering, the Erol Alkan-produced Couples.

Jackson said that Cox, who wrote a lot of the music, was having daily physiotherapy and was is making "vast improvements".

The band might, apparently, reunite if Cox recovers enough to pick up guitar duties again.