Descendants of Edgar Allan Poe and beloved of Elvis Costello, Rebecca and Megan Lovell’s reworking of their 2014 debut continues a trajectory from acoustic bluegrass in the Lovell Sisters to sassy, Joan Jett-type rock. The gentler, vulnerable Stubborn Love and lovely piano Overachiever reflect the Atlanta-based sisters’ origins in harmony singing, but elsewhere this is swaggering bluesy rock with Zeppelinesque riffola and lyrical “bats out of hell”. Songs such as Trouble in Mind play the bad-girl persona for kicks, with tales of “smoking up in church” and sinful behaviour that don’t fight shy of cliches. “We used to be so cute. What happened to us?” they ask in Blunt, before declaring “What you see is what you get.” At best, this sister act are not unlike a female Black Keys – the excellent Sucker Puncher has more than a nod in the direction of that band’s Gold on the Ceiling – although the Lovells may not have enough to stand out in an overcrowded field.
