(Big Rock Candy)

For those that like their alt.country sparse, dark and deadly, Glasgow’s The Dirt are just the tonic for those frozen nights when nothing but the bleakest music can warm the soul. Graeme Dirt channels Johnny Cash’s deathless growl through a rictus grin, relating tales of incest, skeletal churches and local serial killers while Jen Dirt’s sunny alto provides a lovely vocal counterpoint. The Dirt’s secret weapon, however, is the pitch-black wit that runs like a ghostly mare through their lyrics, making lighter moments such as ‘I Saw You’ all the more charming, and deepening the poignancy of the melancholy ‘Flowers’.