She's the stuff of childish nightmares and adult dreams... and either way, it's a guilty pleasure. Maybe that's why, almost three albums in, Isabel Monteiro still hasn't achieved the superstar status she clearly deserves. Maybe the image of a walking talking caricature, lying immediately between PJ Harvey and the gingerbread house-owning witch of Hansel and Gretel fame,
is just too much for the uninitiated to deal with.
You might want to lose yourself in 'Mondo Cain', accepting the enticing invitation, "Welcome to the Show", but you've got to be wary. Sure, every star has a dark side, but Isabel's not trying to suppress hers. Swigging from an almost empty bottle of red wine, you might be surprised to realise that she's short on alcohol. In the singer's absence, the backstage Jack Daniels has disappeared, and without a quick whisky to warm up the throat, we may, "have a giggly Drugstore band and a p**sed off singer". One captivated male fan and 35ml of funny yellow liquid later, mood swings aren't such a problem.
Which is fine for us. After all, beyond the theatrics, we're here for run throughs of 'Say Hello', 'El President', 'Spacegirl', and 'White Magic For Lovers', fine songs that prove how gross the public's indifference can be.
Commercial success escapes them. Once again, fine for us. On a larger scale, in a bigger venue, it might not be quite the same. But, you see, there's a conflict of interests. Drugstore on top form are irresistible. There's an intimacy that cannot be topped, and I defy anyone not to fall in love with the Drugstore experience, from the tacky neon backdrop to the acoustic cover of, 'She Don't Use Jelly', a 'silly song with three chords' rightfully played in honour of the Flaming Lips. As ever though, the problem with falling properly in love with something, is that you have to want big things for them, entirely unselfishly.
So, just so Isabel can buy her own Gin and Tonics, rather than gently harassing the 'gentlemen' of the audience into getting them for her, you've got to hope that new album, 'Songs For the Jet Set', implants itself into the public consciousness.
With a bit of luck, it might just happen too. New track 'Little Girl' impresses, although special praise is reserved for 'The Party's Over' - quite simply, 'Wonderful Tonight' rewritten, from both sides, for the unsatisfied chemical generation, lead singer aided by guitarist Daron Robinson in a heartbreaking duet. Maybe, just maybe, then, the jetset awaits.
