With his longtime band Scissor Sisters on a semi-permanent hiatus after 2012’s “Magic Hour” and accompanying tour, Derek “Del Marquis” Gruen faced a predicament when it came to determining the direction of his latest solo project. Would he release his latest album as Del Marquis, a follow-up to a quartet of EPs he released between 2008 and 2009, or pursue another direction?

After collaborating over a two-year period with musicians like Rod Thomas (a.k.a. Bright Light Bright Light), Xaxier, Mykal Kilgore, former Scissor Sister members Chrissi Poland and Bridget Barkan and members of Prince’s New Power Generation in between world tours, Gruen eventually compiled what became a new project called Slow Knights, whose debut album “Cosmos” was released Mar. 26 on iTunes and through the band’s website on limited edition vinyl.

The album is rooted more in futuristic, 80s-evoking funk pop, a departure from Gruen’s work as Del Marquis, which fuses a more familiar Scissor Sisters dance sound with elements of early albums from groups like Everything But The Girl and Style Council. Vocals are handled by a rotating cast of characters, including Xavier, Poland, Barkan, Thomas and Gruen, who takes the lead on “Legendary Children” but largely stays on the sidelines for the album’s nine other cuts, giving the album the feel of a semi-obscure compilation you’d find advertised in an old issue of NME. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.