Fans of Goodbye Mr MacKenzie and Angelfish are probably already familiar with Isa & the Filthy Tongues through the medium of the excellent Martin Metcalfe. However, "Dark Passenger" threatens to bring the Edinburgh rockers to a wider audience. While carrying the same sense of dark menace as previous releases, this effort is enveloped in a poppy glossing that sounds perfectly natural.
By revisiting "Jim's Killer", the album is begun in familiar yet commendable style with some fine vocals from Stacey Chavis - otherwise recognised as Isa - floating above the ringing chords. On "New Town Killers" (the title track to the 2008 Richard Jobson film), Martin Metcalfe assumes vocal prominence and contributes his fair share of lead vocals to songs throughout the album. This male/female split helps add feeling to the album without necessarily designating a gender to each individual track. Perhaps that's as much a tribute to the lyrics as to those who sing them.
With "Finders Fuckers", there comes a danceable quality that doesn't seem quite right. Over a pulsating bass-driven rhythm, Isa states "I'm gonna find you/and fuck you/I'm gonna fuck you/and leave you" in a way that's almost too threatening to be arousing. I said almost. Dangerously hypnotic.
"Moon Is A Goon" is wonderfully silly affair yet it'd be easy to understate the quality of Metcalfe's vocal delivery. Or his guitar playing, which takes a slight rockabilly turn on "Big Blue" whereon Stacey seems once again to be singing directly at the listener. It's hard not to listen.
It was their dark take on indie music that first turned heads in their direction and tracks like "City of Roses" serve as proof of their winning formula. When Stacey sings on "Beautiful Girl", an image of Shirley Manson fronting The Clash comes to mind - and that's not a suggestion of plagiarism either.
This could be the album that sees Isa & Filthy Tongues become the next big thing to emerge from Scottish shores. Smartalecs may point out that Stacey Chavis is in fact American but let's keep it simple - "Dark Passenger" is an early contender for Bluesbunny's Best of 2010.