The Pierces

You might have come across sisterly folk-pop duo The Pierces if you arrived early at one of Albert Hammond Jr’s solo shows, as they were touring buddies. And also, our favourite Stroke is engaged to singer Catherine. But there’s hardly any musical similarities – The Pierces’ third LP is more macabre than Kate Bush walking through a haunted forest holding hands with The Horrors. The carnivalesque ‘Secret’ has the rhythm of a deserted carousel, and ‘Sticks And Stones’ is best described as a gothic Long Blondes, conjuring images of Kate Jackson at the helm of a seedy, smokey French brothel – definitely no bad thing. But then it all goes wrong. ‘Lies’ is more Katie Melua than cutting edge, and the travesty that is ‘Boy In A Rock And Roll Band’ veers towards coffee-table jazz. Come on The Pierces, is this it?

Laura Snapes