Monica Queen is really 2 people.Monica and Johnny Smillie,founder members of the seminal THRUM.The respect they gained through THRUM earned them the plaudits of sounding like Janis Joplin fronting Teenage Fanclub.Grant Lee Buffalo,The Jayhawks and Shane McGowan were all impressed enough to have Monica join them onstage.Stuart form Belle and Sebastian asked Monica to salvage a song that he felt needed something extra special.The result was "Lazy Line Painter Jane" which went on to be the fan's favourite and band's closing number.It was after seeing the reaction to Monica while singing with the Belle's at the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury, Benicassim and The Barrowland's among others that Johnny realised that Monica needed a new vehicle for her voice.This resulted in the wonderfully reviewed "Ten Sorrowful Mysteries"and showed a whole new depth to Monica's vocals accompanied by Johnny's trademark guitar and inventive electronica.It was widely acknowledged that this was a coming of age for Monica's talents and she is regarded as one of Scotland's greatest vocalist's.This earned some new fans too - James Grant asked her to sing the opening track on his album "I Shot the Albatross"as well as providing harmonies on other tracks and then again on his new album "Holy Love" and has become an integral part of James live shows.Jim White also was impressed enough to ask Monica and Johnny to work on a track with him and has contributed to a track on the new Monica album "Return of the Sacred Heart"This new work sees Johnny take Monica's voice to another level again and the sparse production gives it room to be heard in all it's glory.