“Someone already shouted ‘Judas’ at us,” laughs Rosa Slade.

“That was like two years ago when we first started using electric. Now I think people are fine.”

One third of Peggy Sue is musing on the band’s move from predominantly acoustic folk ditties to a more collaborative, electric sound.

“My favourite thing about a band is when they change. I welcome a different sound, otherwise you get bored,” she continues.

“We went quite a long way with acoustic instruments. We initially started with just one guitar, then we expanded and brought in loads of other instruments – mandolins and ukuleles. If you pick up a new instrument and teach yourself to play it while writing songs on it, you end up writing more unexpected music than you would have done.

“We got to the point where we wanted to explore guitars more. You get a lot more amazing sounds out of an electric guitar.”

Although debut album Fossils And Other Phantoms possessed more than a little amp-driven melody, Rosa describes new album Acrobats as “a jump entirely in that direction”.

“We wanted to create cohesion throughout the album, and that’s why we stuck with the core of two electric guitars. [On Fo ssils…] there are a fewsongs that are very much one person, with accompaniment around it,” she says.

“Everything on Acrobats allows space for each person to shine a little bit.”

The new album – produced by John Parish of PJ Harvey, Eels and Tracy Chapman fame (“He said he loved us...

we were just like ‘John Parish knows who we are! We are making this album with him now!”) – is a bigger, fuller sounding release.

Some say it displays a “ferocity” – a term not normally attributed to the band’s bittersweet indie-folk roots. It’s not a comparison Rosa necessarily agrees with.

“Well, we’re not that furious. Actually, the lyrics I’m now writing are much calmer and completely different,” she laughs.

"We were very aware that, after Fossils…, people were like, ‘Oh, it’s a story about getting their heart broken’, and it just wasn’t. I think Acrobats is all about taking control of the music and making it sound how we want it. The lyrics have gone with that. They are about balance and finding an acceptance.

“Maybe I’d be cooler if I was furious.”

Alongside a DIY approach to making music (“We’re making tie-dye T-shirts later because that’s fun!”), the former Brighton-based trio (once known as Peggy Sue And The Pirates) are renowned for their creative output.

In 2008 the band would record four songs a month for fans to download from MySpace. Later that year a limited press of EPs under the monikers Peggy Sue & The Pictures and Peggy Sue & Les Triplettes were distributed by label Broken Sounds and, following that, a series of standalone singles were on sale at various gigs. Fossils And Other Phantoms was released last year, and Acrobats will be out on Monday.

“We write really quickly. All three of us are happiest when we’re really busy. We made Fossils… in Brooklyn which kick-started a year of being away and meant we were in each other’s pockets at all points. That meant the music found an outlet,” explains Slade.

“We’re really keen on releasing… we never had the difficult first album or the difficult second album. We create a body of work which says ‘this represents us where we are now’. We get it out so people can hear it and we can start working on the new things.”

Their show this weekend as part of Melting Vinyl and the Wilkommen Collective’s Foxtrot isn’t just a homecoming of sorts, rather a chance to catch up with old friends.

“I’m really excited about it – the next day is our album launch, so we’re basically going to pile everyone in a van and drive them to London so they can play for us,” laughs Rosa.

“It could be a disaster… someone’s going to have to make sure we’re don’t all get too drunk.”

* Other acts taking part in Foxtrot include Herman Dune, Sam Amidon, Hannah Peel and The Leaf Label’s Nancy Elizabeth.

* 2pm, tickets from £22.50. Call Resident Records (01273 606312), Rounder Records (01273 325440) and Dome Box Office (01273 709709)