STACK #203 Sep 2021

MUSIC FEATURE

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INTERVIEW VIKA

& LINDA

The Wait by Vika & Linda is out Sept 17 via Bloodlines.

Following their record-breaking #1 anthology 'Akilotoa , and #2-charting covers album Sunday (The Gospel According to Iso) – both released in 2020, if you don't mind – the inimitable Bull sisters are about to lay an album of originals on you that's so fine, you'll be under its soul-spell in seconds flat. Words Zoë Radas

L ooking from the outside in, it would seem that everyone loves Vika and Linda Bull. Praise for the sisters, whose career now spans 35 years, flows like veritable fruits from the cornucopia, not least from some of the country‘s most – ”Not everyone!” Vika Bull asserts. Oh... really? Not everyone? ”Oh no,” she wags her

Eva Seymour, and Kasey Chambers with Brandon Dodd. Those latter two penned album opener and instant classic – with its driving saloon piano, acoustic guitar and lyrics which conjure all the power its titular action suggests – Raise Your Hand . ”I first heard it in the car on my iPhone,” says Linda, ”and I couldn‘t

wait to play it to Vika. I feel like [Kasey] wrote it just for us. It

You nearly pulled your hair out with that one, didn't you Vik!

head, as Linda giggles. ”Definitely not!” She sucks her breath in with a little ‘What can ya do

really struck a chord... raise your hand, speak up, say what you want, don‘t be ignored.” Though there‘s no filler

about it?‘ shrug. Ah, it‘s as we suspected: anyone who doesn‘t adore Vika and Linda has likely got a simple problem with assertive women. New album The Wait – their first

from soup to nuts, the album‘s strongest songs are spread out across its tracklist. (”It used to be that you‘d put your five best tracks at the beginning, that‘s how it was done – but I don‘t agree with that,” laughs Linda.) You‘ll find stand-out Teeth third in line, a song that came in ”at the last minute”, according to Vika. There‘s an irresistible, syncopated sway to its doubled- vocal melody, accompanied by gentle shaker

record of all-new material in 19 years – sees the sisters perform songs written by several prominent members of the Assertive Women Fanclub, including Chris Cheney, Ben Salter, Bernard Fanning, Mick Thomas,

Just a few of TheWait ’s songwriters, TOP TO BOTTOM: Bernard Fanning, Kasey Chambers, Mick Thomas

SEPTEMBER 2021

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