Viva Voce means "by word of mouth" in Italian (What's with the Italian band names these days: The Fratellis, We Ragazzi? -ed.). Not that it matters, but I bet you were wondering. What's quite fitting, though, is that this band from Portland, Ore. is getting huge -- did we mention its lucrative opening slot for The Shins at the Eagles Ballroom on Feb. 9? And guess how it happened?

That's right; the media (and no, we don't just mean music snob message boards) can't shut up about VV's latest effort, "Get Yr Blood Sucked Out."

Although Rolling Stone called Viva Voce "stoner rock," Kevin and Anita Robinson, the husband-and-wife duo, are not f*ucking around. It's all right there in the seventh track of the new album: "We Do Not F*ck Around."

This song sticks out on the record, not just lyrically, but also musically. Although the bulk of the record's shadowy veneer bolsters Viva Voce as a candidate for Barsuk Records' darkest, lo-fi band (OK, fine. "Sharp, smart stoner rock" wasn't all that far off target), this surprising piano ballad-gone-jangle-pop-song marks a momentary parting of the dark clouds, which concludes two songs later with the downright googly-eyed "Special Thing."

Viva Voce evokes a dark intensity, but not without adding its signature softness, which lingers just under the surface of a sinister sneer. The band live should make for an interesting match-up for The Shins, whose breezy pop poems have been blowing indie rock's collective mind since 2001's "Oh, Inverted World," (and everyone else's since Zach Braff employed his official seal of approval in '04s "Garden State.")