They might be usually compared to the likes of Joy Division, but White Lies tapped into the spirit of Roxy Music on their new album – by using the legendary group’s old instruments.

The band bring new album Friends to the O2 ABC on Sunday, having recorded it in the studio of Roxy frontman Bryan Ferry.

“We were very lucky to be allowed into Bryan Ferry’s place,” explains their drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown.

“It’s not a commercial thing for him, so he doesn’t need to hire it out, but he knew of the band and came down a couple of times to give it all his blessing, and it was an amazing gift to work there.

“The studio wove its way throughout the album without us planning to, because we were allowed to use all of his old gear from the first few Roxy albums. We got Ed Buller in, who we’d worked with on the first and third albums, and he’s a bit of a Roxy nerd. He worked all the synths for us and it was a great place to work that had an impact on the creative side of the album.”

The three-piece – Jack, singer Harry McVeigh and bassist Charles Cave – were in illustrious company for their studio time. As it’s not used too often, the previous artist to record material there was the late, great Prince.

“It was a weird one, because Prince was the last one to record there before us.

“He had been in town for those hit and run shows a few years ago and would do night sessions at Bryan’s place, and basically work two separate songwriting projects then go to his next gig.”

Jack and his bandmates had a pretty intense work ethic for a while, before taking some time off after their last album, Big TV. They then regrouped to start work on Friends, but didn’t have a record deal, while they had also decided to record the album themselves.

The result is a record that features several songs with a dancier feel than before, although the trio’s trusty trademark of emotive, gloomy rock is still present and correct.

“I think we’ve always had a few songs that tapped into a more upbeat mood,” argues Jack.

“The thought that White Lies go home and sit with a Best of Joy Division compilation is so far from what we are like, because we have jazz and disco and funk always playing in our dressing rooms.

“So we thought this album would be a good opportunity to push that forward, within a White Lies framework. I’m not one for bands who completely re-invent their sound, but at the same time we wanted some more influences, like on Is My Love Enough? or Don’t Want To Feel It All.

“We’ve done gigs in the past and thought it’d be amazing to have songs that are real dancefloor songs, as opposed to ones that just get everyone jumping.”

The record’s lyrics, meanwhile, touch upon themes of getting older and seeing changes around you, something Jack relates to.

“We’ve been friends since we were five years old and a lot of the friends we keep are the same people, so what happens to one of the band does apply to the others,” he explains.

“This year both myself and Harry have got married, and it suddenly feels like we’re grown-ups. When you’re in a band that isn’t a feeling you have most of the time – instead you feel like you’re a giant child, running around Europe.”

However the band have reached the point of having longevity in their career.

“When you reach your third and fourth album and you’re not a Coldplay sized band then you essentially have to ride it out,” adds the sticksman.

“There’s a feeling around you, especially in the UK, of ‘White Lies, are they still around?’. And you’re like ‘yeah, we are and we’re doing alright actually!’”

White Lies, O2 ABC, Sunday, £20, 7pm