SISTER songwriters The Pierces seem to belong to another era which is about the sincerest compliment you can pay musicians in an age when our ears are bludgeoned daily by manufactured pop.

They seem more like a band from the 60s or early 70s - you know, when music was good, as my dad would say - but with a distinctly modern twist to give them that contemporary edge.

Their album You and I was released on May 30 and has already attracted rave reviews in the national media and I can’t disagree - it’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Catherine and Allison Pierce, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, where they were raised by free-spiried, hippie parents, have a distinctive sound which conjures up music’s golden age. There are shades of pop, rock, folk and country and, in the lyrics themselves, suggestions of dark fairytales and eerie spells, but like many people genuinely talented people, they transcend genre and their work is considerably more than the sum of its parts.

Every song on the album is beautifully written with intense and haunting lyrics. The singing and instrumental components are great and the melodies are memorable, rich and deeply evocative. Some of the songs are simply spellbinding and some of them have a dark and somewhat edgy quality which set the hairs on the back of your neck on end.

Also, there is no sense that any of these songs presents a weak link or has been included just to pad out the album. Each song is great in its own right and has earned its place. Quality is sustained strongly from beginning to end.

My personal favourites are “You’ll be Mine”, “It Will Not Be Forgotten”, “Glorious” and “Space & Time” but with 11 superb songs to choose from you really are spoiled for choice.

The band is now touring in the UK so there is also the opportunity to see this great band live.

If you have never heard of them before you soon will and you can only be enriched by the experience.