The Pipettes have just replaced two of its frontwomen recently. “We Are the Pipettes” is going to sound awfully different from here on out, as RiotBecki and Rose drop out of the picture and Ani and Anna drop in. No one’s sure how the band will sound now that none of the band’s original frontwomen remain, but with 20 songs apparently written, we’ll likely find out soon enough. But as fans pick triage the damage on message boards and blogs all over, it’s perhaps worth noting that this has happened to the Pipettes before.

Once upon a time it was RiotBecki, Rosay and Julia. Occasionally calling herself Julia Caesar, her real name is Julia Clark-Lowes. The Pipettes concept was actually part her idea, along with Cassettes member and assumed svengali Monster Bobby. Even so, Clark-Lowes apparently wasn’t long for the band, and decided to stick around only as long as it took to find a new third Pipette. Though the band has mentioned her name a couple of times in interviews and generally doesn’t play down her role, most fans probably won’t know about Clark-Lowes’ involvement. Which may be for the best, as her next music project is just now bearing fruit: she hooked up with Simon Clayton at a poetry slam and decided to form their own band after she’d finished with the Pipettes. She did retain one element from her former girl group, though: Clayton and Clark-Lowes immediately became Simon and Julia Indelicate, leaders of a rock band called the Indelicates.

If the songs off the band’s MySpace are any indication, the Indelicates mix equal parts guitar crunch and piano-pop sweetness to create what at least one review has called twee punk—which actually sounds about right, if you think of the band in the same vein as American projects like Bunnygrunt and Tullycraft. “Sixteen” in particular sounds a bit like Kate Bush fronting the New Pornographers. Clark-Lowes’ cheery, swooning vocals, perched atop a bright foundation of power pop, make for a winning combination. And in case you’d like some more name-checking, imagine Heavenly as fronted by a raspy-voiced bloke and you’ve got “Julia, We Don’t Live in the Sixties.” If this is the sort of thing we can expect from Pipettes alumna, then the future looks bright for Becki and Rose indeed.