nixsight

This week, more Drugstore, I’m afraid. I’d apologise for the lack of imagination this shows, if Drugstore weren’t so fucking awesome.

Hardly anybody ever heard the band, which is a tragic shame. The blend of their melancholy lyrics and Isobel Monteiro’s heartbreaking vocals is just as haunting and evocative as all hell.

3. The Adventures Of Isobel – Drugstore

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I once saw Isobel play this song on stage at Southampton’s adorably cruddy Joiners. As I recall, the rest of the band were offstage having a break, and Isobel played on through, bottle of wine at her feet, acoustic guitar massive against her tiny frame.

Which is funny, because when you listen to it, it sounds like the song that Bjork must have thought she was singing over and over again, all those years ago. It has her whimsy. But it has Isobel’s macabre sense of humour. For example, the line:

“She killed the beast with her long blonde hair,
Than calmly Isobel ate the bear.”

Both predates and predicts the imagery that makes all of those daft Asian horror movies so spooky. Looking at Monteiro onstage, you can almost picture her doing away with a big brown bear exactly the same way. And smiling sweetly afterwards.

2. Nectarine – Drugstore

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This song, again, is superficially morbid, but full of vicious humour and sticky imagery. There’s a haunting and repetitive phrasing used throughout it, with lines like this one:

“I’ve still got the knife that I used to get rid of that guy.”

And each of the things Isobel says during these phrases are images that still come to me from time to time, and have reflected in some of the stuff I’ve written for Elephant Words.

3. Favourite Sinner – Drugstore

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Throughout this song, Isobel seems to be reflecting on her mortality, and coming to terms with her own demons. But then, of course, because it’s Drugstore, she’s also talking about a final, defiant act in the face of God. And it’s unclear what that act is – it might be suicide, but it might just as likely be the case that Isobel is singing about killing God.

No YouTube bonus this week. Instead, here’s an extra bit of glorious Drugstore goodness – a beautiful instrumental version of the song “Gravity”, performed, I believe, with a full string section.

Gravity (Instrumental String Version) – Drugstore

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If you liked these songs, or you have a Drugstore memory, or, you know, even if you just fancy a chat, as always please leave a comment!