The Wait

Staples on the Australian music scene since the 1980s, when they were prominently featured in The Black Sorrows band, Aussie-Tongan sisters Vika and Linda Bull quickly went on to establish their own stellar career. In recent years they’ve provided back-up vocals for iconic Oz troubadour Paul Kelly’s touring band and have regularly been part of the house band on the popular Australian-TV music programme Rockwiz. With the success of 2020’s retrospective ‘Akilotoa: Anthology 1994–2006 and their gospel-flavoured follow-up Sunday (The Gospel According to Iso) during Melbourne’s COVID lockdown period, it’s surprising to realise that this latest album is actually the sister’s first collection of new material in 19 years.

Drawing on a who’s who of Aussie songwriting talent, such as Don Walker, Kasey Chambers, Bernard Fanning, Neil Murray and Mick Thomas, they’ve also featured several emerging artists, and the quality of these new songs is impressive. Standouts include Chambers and Brandon Dodds’ anthemic ‘Raise Your Hand’, Ben Salter’s revealing ‘My Heart Is in the Wrong Place’ and Paul Kelly’s ‘The Long View’. As robustly solid as ever, both Vika & Linda’s vocal chops remain in fine form, with nods to R&B, soul and their Tongan gospel heritage clearly evident.