Friday 22 August 2014

Every summer there's always one new album you buy to take away on the holidays to listen to on the beach.... And as usual my choice is completely inappropriate for lounging round the pool


The Secret Sisters are actually sisters and Put Your Needle Down is Americana from the Deep South laced with a bit of gospel and American gothic


The opener Roll my Bones, a song about one very horny woman, motors along like a cross between Footloose and the band Lone Justice


The standout track of Iuka follows - a story of a pair of young lovers running away from an abusive redneck father. It's dark, percussive with a wailing violin adding a really eerie feel. Unsettling but compelling


The harmonies between the sisters are used sparingly and occasionally the track veer to close to Doris Day or pure Nashville (Lonely Island and I Can't Find a Way being prime culprits) but there are gems to be unearthed.


The Pocket Knife weirdly seems to steal its opening riff from a Seth Lakeman track and Dirty Lie is the American cousin of Amy Winehouse's Back in Black


Bob Dylan were so taken with this band he provided an unreleased song (Dirty Lie) and PJ Harvey also contributed a track


The album ends on the River Jordan, a proper southern revivalist gospel song with plenty of tambourine and it just dares you to add your own hallelujahs....


All in all a really fantastic little discovery