The twins’ latest release finds them in a good place, working decent venues and festivals and producing new material that develops their fresh-air harmonic flow into one or two new lyrical areas. The images and design are a credit to the originators.It’s easy to enjoy this music even if us lower-register singers won’t be singing along. No shocks or surprises and with their instrumental chops ever-improving no lack of tones or timbres to infuse into the compositions. So whether or not you need this album in your collection is entirely down to the quality of the songs. Fizzy and friendly the girls may be – we last ran into them for a chat at Cornbury – but lightweight they are not…

Opening cut No Filter has a sombre ambience and reeks of a desperation to resolve a dilemma, the tunefulness belying the anguish of the theme. The mainstream musical setting leaves the dual vocal free to fire up. A strong start. Next up Lie Like Me seems a tad warmer and the original countrified approach of the act, more in evidence, in fact there is a squeeze of Dixie Chicks in this one..the ‘grab this by the horns’ attitude that they pretty much defined.

One More Goodbye is the kind of narrative piece the girls handle really well, these days. If you like Miranda Lambert this may appeal. The song settles into a slow burner. I can sense this being a future stage favourite. A breezy piano brings in It’s Not Just Me which has that skipping beat that has coined a few bob for Train.

Pleasant enough but not earth-shattering. Then we get Ain’t That Easy a bittersweet ballad with a surefire melodic cadence. A less generic but insistent tempo gives the cut Rather Be Breathing a distinctive overall sound but horns would surely have made this a killer inclusion! Hopeless is winsome and beautifully rendered and one of the best inclusions on this set. Strange that lying and deceipt are common themes in Ward Thomas’ canon. If they can’t pull successfully, what chance have any of us?

Never Know is set to an urgent pace with someone in this described couple having the sure upper hand..oh dear how very relatable! Another superior song but the arrangement needs some dirt, it really does. Same Love is a guitar-centred piece with a definite S Nicks twist, could be a massive radio hit. Changing is a clean country tune with a good melody and easy-rolling gait. Some upfront slide or dobro would have given some counterpoint. No Fooling Me arrives with hesitant acoustic guitar and a folky feel. I Believe In You is a rockier number which sounds like a set starter. Little Girl Sorrow is a tip-toeing fairy tale vibe, warming up as the strings arrive. A little Kate Bush interlude, perhaps. Deepest You is another co-write and the tune is pure Greenwich Village. So is the arrangement and it’s a tender offering, using harmonic expertise. Finally, This Too Will Pass is almost a lullabye, as gentle as possible and another country outing of featherweight presence.

If there’s a disappointing aspect to this set, it is for me the anonymous sound of the musical backdrops. There are players like Luke Potashnik involved here and surely the odd blinding solo would juice up the programme and give the tracks more bite. Emmylou and Ronstadt never suffered from letting the band blaze! Against that, what glorious singers these sisters are…

Pete Sargeant