The Secret Sisters
Album: Put Your Needle Down
Label: Decca
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.secretsistersband.com

The Secret Sisters (Laura and Lydia Rogers, from Florence just outside of Muscle Shoals, Alabama) have been less of a secret since their eponymous debut album appeared back in 2010 and was widely lauded; produced by T Bone Burnett, it delivered a collection that brought nine well-chosen covers into company with two less-than-convincing toe-in-the-water self-penned numbers - nothing outwardly remarkable, perhaps, but for the sisters themselves (yes, true sisters!) and their glorious sibling vocal harmonies. But album number two takes a giant stride, for all that it enjoys a continuity and unity with their debut in once again engaging T Bone for production duties.

The giant stride here is the decision the Sisters have taken to write virtually all of the material this time round - and how adept they prove, not only in the greater maturity of their lyrics but also in their ability to so very naturally emulate and reproduce a host of styles from country to classic pop via southern Americana and gospel. The album title gives more than a clue to the rationale behind it all: Put Your Needle Down refers both to the pleasurable act of playing your treasured vinyl and (more obliquely) to the fact that the Sisters aren't little girls anymore and their mom isn't still sewing their clothes!

Needless to say, there's a keen retro feel about the album, with T Bone's crack crew of backing musicians conjuring an exciting, upfront twang-based soundscape that moves effortlessly between the steamy, moody gothic murder ballad of Iuka, the rollicking (if slightly spooky) southern-spiritual feel of River Jordan and the swampy twelve-bar of If I Don't to the outright pop-balladry of Lonely Island and the charming mid-tempo Good Luck Good Night Goodbye, which could almost be a lost 60s pop classic were it not for its lusher indie-guitar and organ-drenched playout; Dirty Lie comes across like a sinuous, seductive Peggy Lee number, while Bad Habit moves the Sisters even further into rather more sinister (jazzy, bluesy) musical territory for its desperate examination of the central relationship issue. But on much of the disc, the Sisters' sibling harmonies most often recall the Everlys, in fact, especially on Let There Be Lonely and The Pocket Knife.

The disc's one cover is the opener Rattle My Bones, written by the Sisters' long-time friend Brandi Carlile, which takes a Bo Diddley riff as a jumping-off point for a defiantly upbeat meditation. This is brilliant - so keep on puttin' your needle down, girls (I might even need to go invest in a new vinyl player!).

David Kidman