In a turquoise-schemed studio in a run-down section of Queens, N.Y., Erasure are filming the video for an adorable little love song called "In My Arms." The storyline is that of Rapunzel, served up in typical Erasure fashion: As Andy Bell looks on from a ledge, a young Romeo scales a New York skyscraper to find his true love, using her golden locks as his rope. It's all too sweet, really. And as Bell and keyboardist Vince Clarke are happily back in the thick of things after a two year absence, their music is once again sweet as well.

\\Just two years ago, Erasure released an album that stretched their token pop-heavy bubblegum tales of love and trust into an experimental swirl of ambient waves, surreal layers and trance-inducing melodies. "Erasure" was a commercial flop but the band trudged on. Now, as electronica, ambient and, for that matter, anything dance, are finally seeing the commercial light of day in America, Erasure has returned with "Cowboy" -- as spiffy a pop record as they've ever released. It recalls elements of "Wild" and even more so "The Innocents" -- the band's most successful record in the U.S. to date -- but has their former audience moved on to more sophisticated pop structures? During a break in the filming, the kings of synth pop sat down to mull over the possibilities. Instead, the conversation turned to Spice Girls, dildo factories and the band's fetish with all things Western.

\\Rolling Stone.com: Just when the kind of ambient music on "Erasure" is becoming popular in America, "Cowboy" seems to represent a return to more conventional pop. Do you find that ironic?

\\Vince Clarke: When we wrote the last album, it was written the same way we wrote all our albums. We try to write three-minute pop songs. We extended the middle a bit and that was really it. I just like the idea of experimenting with more of a movie soundtrack type of thing.

\\From top to bottom a complete story?

\\VC: In my mind, that's how I thought it was going to be. That's the way I saw it and heard it.

\\What movie would it have been?

\\VC: Something science fiction!

\\So what was different this time around?

\\VC: We have always written pop songs -- always -- and it's what we do best. It's not as if we sit down and say that we're going to write this type of song in this sort of style. We just usually go into a hotel room and sit down, and whatever comes out, comes out. I'll mix about on the piano and he'll sing something.

\\I see. So, were you approached by Madonna herself when you signed to Maverick Records?

\\VC: No. I don't really know how it actually happened. It was pretty weird with Elektra because the guy who signed us with Elektra got axed and with the style changes in the record company, we just wound up with Maverick.

\\You guys are going out on tour in full-blown theatrical Erasure fashion in May. What can we expect?

\\VC: It's going to be a post-nuclear spaghetti Western. It's going to have every cliche you can imagine for a Western. We're going to have the back of the stage set up like a saloon door and we're going to have cactuses, tumbleweed, wagons, and Stetsons made of tin. And tight black cowboy outfits made of latex.

\\Andy Bell: We got the idea from a fetish magazine about leather and cowboy stuff. It will be quite scary in that respect. I am much more into the fetish thing this time.

\\Have you guys been doing any side projects in your five year absence from touring the States?

\\VC: We got involved in a movie last year which I did the music for ["Good Vibrations"] ... It's about a dildo factory in Los Angeles. Andy is in it for 30 seconds.

\\AB: It was just a bribe for me to be in the film. The part was written for a porno director and when we did the music, it was a great time being involved not as Erasure but as a human. It's very tame. I didn't really know what to expect. I remember looking really bored seeing two people fucking on a pool table.

\\VC: There's one song which is on "Cowboy" called "Love Affair" that was written for the film. It's my favorite song on the record, it was written very quickly.

\\What's quickly for you?

\\VC: Three minutes.

\\That's pretty damn quick! Moving on, do you feel that these days your music is appealing mainly to a gay audience?

\\AB: I don't think so. The gay audience has always been very receptive and supportive. It's just fortunate that I'm gay, really. I think we have gotten a lot of publicity for it.

\\Well, your flamboyance always garners a lot of press and you've always known that. Like with the "Wild" tour ...

\\AB: Well, I'm a tease.

\\That was a long time ago.

\\AB: That's what is so scary -- when you're treated like an encore by all these new bands like the Spice Girls.

\\Speaking of the Spice Girls, have you ever met them?

\\AB: They were recording in the studio where I was doing vocals and they would come in and knock on the door and say "Oh Andy, come and meet my boyfriend! I want you to meet my boyfriend." And I gave an award to them in Ireland and they came up to me and said "Oh Andy, we love you." I mean they have been trained for years those girls and they really know how to work it.

\\How do you feel about Erasure's future?

\\VC: Well, I don't think we can attract any new fans these days, I just don't think the kids relate to what we are doing ... It could be different in the United States. Everything is much slower here. Bands here seem to hang around longer than in Britain.

\\AB: Sometimes I start to feel nostalgic when people start talking about peaks. I am disappointed that no one sees any future in us. But it's not the people wh