It took vocal duo Vika & Linda 19 years to release an album of original songs.
It's aptly titled The Wait - and for fans of the Bull sisters it will be worth the wait.
The Melbourne siblings have been singing together their entire lives, making their debut in church with their mother, Siniva.
They went on to record three albums with The Black Sorrows and have also sung on albums by Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers and John Farnham, done gigs for the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and the King of Tonga, and been nominated for four ARIA Awards.
Vika & Linda scored their first No.1 album with career anthology Akilotoa in 2020, the first Australian female duo to do so. It was followed by gospel collection, Sunday (The Gospel According To Iso), which debuted at No.2.
So, why the wait for The Wait? Granted, it hasn't been smooth sailing for Vika & Linda to get the album recorded. Each time they were due to go into the studio there was another lockdown.
"I know, I know, it took us way too long," Linda said, laughing.
"Over those 19 years we were waiting for more songs. Waiting for the right opportunity. But hey, we've made three albums in a year-and-a-half. That's not bad!"
The songwriting credits for The Wait read like a who's who of Australian music royalty: Don Walker, Glenn Richards, Chris Cheney, Bernard Fanning, Kasey Chambers and Brandon Dodd, Ben Salter, Paul Kelly, Neil Murray and Matt Walker, Mick Thomas and Jemma Rowlands, and emerging talent Eva Seymour.
"It's really hard to explain, but we tend to consider ourselves interpreters, not songwriters," Linda explained.
"About four years ago, when Vika was doing a tour in the UK with the Etta Jones show, I got the ball rolling.
"We chose the songs for the album ourselves, out of about 50.
"The songs we choose have to mean something to us - we can't sing a song if we don't know what we're singing about."
One of those songs was lead single Raise Your Hand,a rousing anthem of power and confidence.
"With all that's going on at the moment, this song is relevant in so many ways," Linda said.
"Raise your hand, speak up, say what you want, don't be ignored."
Another was second single My Heart Is In The Wrong Place.
"It is one of those songs that everyone can relate to," Vika said.
"Sometimes you feel like giving up, but something in you just makes you keep pushing through. I think that's why Linda and I have had such a long career - we've never listened to the knockers. We just keep pushing through."
Recording The Wait was a joy, says Linda, a rarity for the sister act.
"We both loved making it which is really strange - normally we don't love recording, but we loved this one," she said.
"Some songs I was singing and I'd say to Vik 'I think you should sing that'. Like a Landslide and Lover Don't Keep Me Waiting were originally sung by me and I was like 'Look, I think you'd sing them better. It's not about me, it's about the song'.
"And she did sing them better. She sang the pants off them."
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