The Pierces - Creation

I discovered The Pierces when randomly perusing Spotify one afternoon and have been in love with the sister’s haunting vocals ever since. While they’re still relatively unknown, you may well have come across their single, Secret (off the 2007 album Thirteen Tales Of Love And Revenge), the theme song to ABC’s Pretty Little Liars.

The Alabama-born sister duo only really took off in 2011, a year which saw them supporting Coldplay at iTunes Festival, performing at Glastonbury, and going on their first ever official tour, culminating in the release of their fourth album, You And I, which entered the UK Albums Chart at Number 4. Creation, the sisters’ first album in three years, is an utter triumph; a fabulous follow-up to 2011’s You And I and most certainly well worth the wait.

Creation is a stunningly beautiful vocal-harmony set, typical of the duo’s melodic, folk-inspired style. What I’ve always really loved about The Pierces is their ability to surprise. Their albums are always delightfully varied, a sort of musical equivalent to a really good page-turner, twisting and turning in entirely unexpected, but always very lovely ways. Creation is, of course, no exception, morphing from the ridiculously catchy R&B infused Kings, to the girlish 60s inspired Believe In Me, right round to the country-rock styled Honest Man. I’ve found that there’s a definite danger of same-ness with more chilled out musical styles, where an entire album can blur into one long mush of acoustic whininess that is mediocre at best. The Pierces avoid this musical travesty through their varying use of different styles and moods in their music, which makes each song on the album wonderfully unique while doing nothing to detract from the beautifully relaxed style of the album as a whole.

That being said, I won’t claim that every song on the album sets the world on fire. Personally, I find Elements a little bland and repetitive and just a touch too slow for my taste. That aside however, even I can’t deny the loveliness of the song’s (extremely slow) harmonies. My personal favourite from this album has to be Come Alive. With its beautifully layered harmonies, the chorus is positively spine-tingling and the energetic beat had me (possibly the world’s least enthusiastic dancer) jiving round my room for a good half an hour while the song blasted on repeat. I also particularly loved Must Be Something, a bewitching juxtaposition of preppy beats with a dark undertone and a wonderfully catchy chorus. On an entirely different note, the album’s penultimate song, The One I Want, is utterly beautiful; moody, atmospheric and ethereal. Its haunting lyrics and delicate melodies are an absolute delight.

Honestly, the whole album is fabulous from start to finish. I’ve been listening to it obsessively on repeat since I bought it and it still gives me goosebumps. It is most definitely my favourite album of the year so far, and The Pierces best album to date. Definitely well worth a listen.