THE CORNSHED SISTERS - tell tales LP

Female siblings singing in harmony about beekeeping, water babies and stacking up bones... how very 2012 this sounds. And how odd this is. First Aid Kit's Söderberg sisters have tingled spines with their perfectly matched intervals; The Staves have meshed their voices and their familial connections. Perhaps this trend marks a wish to return to music's simple roots, in these all-access, all-Auto-Tuned days; or for musicians – and women, perhaps – to bond together in the purest, most moving of ways.

Still, The Cornshed Sisters are different. First, they're not sisters by blood, but four friends from Newcastle. They also have indie clout, with an ex-member of Kenickie in their ranks (Cath, Jennie and Liz are joined by the still corkscrew-curled Marie Du Santiago), and this debut album was produced by Field Music’s Peter Brewis. Their music has a slightly different tone, too. These feel like north-eastern songs, lifted by local vowels and consonants, moods veering close to the scene still bubbling around local group The Unthanks and, brilliantly, Newcastle University's music department, whose Folk Music B.A. graduates include the more traditional Jim Causley and Emily Portman.