Isa and the Filthy Tongues - Education (Circular Records)
2/5
By: Charlie Potter
You've got to admire the guts of this band. They've really just gone for it, singing a song about how we might think we know them, but in fact we don't know shit...
Such a sentiment suits the music, and they almost pull it off. In a way, it sounds a bit like The Pipettes, but at the end of the day there ain't nobody who wants to be told that they don't know something about someone. You're left thinking that you don't really care. I guess however that you're meant to join in with Isa and sing along the lines 'you don't know anything about me' to someone else. She backs this idea up with a short break down saying that this is a song for anyone who's been put down or hurt, something which leaves me feeling that actually, these people might be a bit pathetic - authoring the sort of song that appeals to people who take pride in supposedly not listening to peoples' criticism, whereas in actual fact they've been so affected by such disapproval that they've had to write a song about it. Get over it. If you don't care about what people think about you, don't sing me a song about it.
The aforementioned concerns are such a shame because Isa (or 'Stacey' as she's actually called) and the Filthy Tongues can come across as a really good band. The vocals might annoy, but this woman pulls it off with a Kim Gordonesque confidence. However, where Kim comes across as observant in her lyrics, there's a more negative indulgence at play here, the sort that only serves to make people all the more neurotic.
The music those vocals sit atop however is just right. Its really vast, relaxed, rockabilly, boot scooping, American country sound is totally satisfying, and there's a genuine joy put in to its creation. They come across as real music lovers, and the pace is perfect. So there's hope. There's hope.
I feel fairly sure that I've heard the melody at the end a hundred times before in other songs, but it suits the song so well that it doesn't matter too much. It's quite possible that the band will write good songs, and many of them, but the lyrical concept just spoils this one for me, which is a rare occurrence.
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