The popular painter and bete noir of more high-minded souls may have got his 2006 self-portrait, Marked Heart, into the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) for one night only, but it made it in nevertheless.

The event was the launch of This Has Been The Death of Us, the long overdue second album by Edinburgh-based, but Kirkcaldy born, band Saint Jude’s Infirmary. The launch formed part of the events programme for graffiti-art show, Rough Cut Nation, which took over the SNPG during the building’s ongoing renovation. The band unveiled Marked Heart prior to performing their song of the same name inspired by the painting.

Given that the painting itself had been inspired by another Saint Jude’s Infirmary song, Goodbye Jack Vettriano, and was gifted to the band to become the cover image of This Has Been The Death of Us, a mutual appreciation society is clearly ongoing. Vettriano even goes so far as to appear on two of the album tracks, performing a doleful spoken-word accompaniment to the band’s melancholic backing.

“I absolutely adored doing it,” says Vettriano, “because when you’re stuck in a studio all day on your own, doing something like that sounds like a great day out. It was such a lovely feeling to be in a recording studio.”

The Vettriano connection came about after Saint Jude’s Infirmary were invited to perform Goodbye Jack Vettriano on BBC Scotland’s short-lived The Music Show, on which Scottish bands were paired with film-makers to produce a new video. With Saint Jude’s decked out on Portobello Beach in vintage suits and posh frocks straight out of one of the great man’s finest works, who better to ask to get involved than Vettriano himself?

“When I heard the title of the song,” Vettrianno remembers, “my natural fear was that it was going to be derogatory, and might be saying that they’d had enough of me. But when I heard it I was really touched, not least because the song never mentioned my name, and I loved the lyrics so much that I wanted to do a painting.”

Vettriano is amused by his cloak-and-dagger appearance in the SNPG.

“It’s the only way I’ll get in there,” he says. “Not that I care about the National Gallery, but I care about the band.”

For Saint Jude’s Infirmary bassist Grant Campbell, who co-writes the songs with his sister, guitarist Ashley Campbell, the band, completed by main singer Emma Jane, guitarist/vocalist Mark Francis and drummer Cat Hayes, have more in common with Vettriano than shared birthplace.

“We’ve got a similar aesthetic,” he says. “We’re not interested in being this week’s flavour of the month, but we wanted to make an album that couldn’t be ignored. Jack’s really helped with that, because I think he recognises that we’re serious about what we do, and are comfortable in our own skin.”

Vettriano isn’t the only celebrity Fifer to appear on the Saint Jude’s album. Novelist and long-time Saint Jude’s fan Ian Rankin also contributes to two tracks, even providing lyrics to closing after-hours epic, Foot of the Walk.

“The concept they gave me,” he says, “was that it was to be something about walking home at the end of the night along Leith Walk, and that helped with the idea. Then I went into the studio with Jack Vettriano and ended up doing some recording, which was a surprise. I’d been in a band when I was 18 and wrote the lyrics for that, but it was still a challenge.”

What had been the appeal of Saint Jude’s for Rankin?

“Every track sounded different,” he says. “One song would sound like the Velvet Underground, then the next one would sound more country and western. Live, I thought they had a lot of interesting energy, with different personalities on show.”

This is certainly the case with This Has Been The Death Of Us, which at its best resembles Kid Sister by Glasvegas, all Scottish obsessions wrapped up in Spectoresque prom night rock’n’roll, with any macho bluster undercut by Emma Jane and Ashley Campbell’s twin vocals. The overall effect recalls Edinburgh indie-pop pioneers The Shop Assistants or The Velvet Underground if they’d hung out in the Grand Ole Opry rather than Andy Warhol’s Factory.

With the third St Jude’s Infirmary album already written, any guest appearances are likely to continue in a Fife vein.

“Maybe we could get Jocky Wilson,” Campbell says of the Kirkcaldy-born darts legend.

Given the three-year gap between albums, however, the next opus probably isn’t something you should hold your breath for. On this point, Campbell is clear: “It’ll come out when Scotland qualify for the World Cup,” he says.

This Has Been The Death of Us by Saint Jude’s Infirmary is released on October 19. Saint Jude’s Infirmary play Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, October 14 and Bar Brel, Glasgow, October 21.