The Starlets finally settled on their first team of Biff Smith - voice, Mark McSwiggan - guitars, Stephen McGourty - bass, Craig Laurie - drums, Nigel Baillie - brass and Iain White - strings, in time to deliver their debut album 'Surely Tomorrow You'll Feel Blue' (2001). Inspired in part by alternative guitar pop and old string-laden movie soundtracks, it was a lush poetic album which, despite being utterly out of step with prevailing musical trends, gained critical acclaim, winning "Jockrock album of the year" and included in "Is this Music" top 100 albums by Scottish artists, and found an audience for the band beyond their home town of Glasgow.

This continued with the release of the second album 'Further Into Night Forever' (2003) which was again a critical success and brought the band to the attention of the Japanese label Muzak which licensed the record for Japan and helped promote The Starlets' first ever live performances in Tokyo. A new album is nearing completion, recorded at the famous Riverside Studios with Duncan Cameron (Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits etc. producer). More news on that soon with live dates to follow.