It’s hard to imagine Antony Hegarty – famous for his intense piano ballads and painful shyness – vogue-ing frantically on the dancefloor, but that’s precisely the image you’re forced to confront when listening to Hercules & Love Affair, the disco side-project he’s formed with producer Andrew Butler (the ginger bloke in the picture).

Named after the Greek myth of Hercules’ search for his male lover Hylas, and featuring the breathy vocals of NYC club scenesters Nomi and Kim Ann Foxman, Hercules & Love Affair is an intriguing departure for Hegarty, both high-minded and hedonistic, conjuring images of amyl-soaked nights in Studio 54 circa 1978.

The band’s self-titled album comes out 10 March, but they’re giving away a free download, Hercules Theme, right now. Happily, it’s one of the album’s highlights – a sleek, lubricious clinch of a song, all dilated-pupil vocals and crazily-spiralling horns.

You can download Hercules Theme for free here. However, if you can’t face all the “data capture” nonsense, the MP3 is also being hosted by music blog GorillaVsBear.

[Myspace]