Every so often, the British Broadcasting Corporation will open up the Radio 2 Piano Room at Maida Vale Studios, and artists will head in there and record sessions with the BBC Radio Orchestra.

Pulp have always had a little ABBA in them — songs like “I Spy” and “Acrylic Afternoons” are indebted to the sweep, pulse and melancholy of the Swedish pop sensations’ most nuanced creations. So it’s ...