The female duos making waves on the music scene

Ward Thomas, a duo from Hampshire, became the first UK country band to top the chart in September. From Let's Eat Grandma to Nova Twins, there are plenty more female duos on the rise

Without sisterhood, their harmonies wouldn’t be the same: Catherine (left) and Lizzy Ward Thomas

It’s been a while since a female duo topped the UK chart.

Ward Thomas, a duo from Hampshire comprising twins Lizzy and Catherine Ward Thomas, became the first UK country band to top the chart with their second album Cartwheels in September. They are part of a rising number of female duos making waves on the music scene.

Let’s not forget other female acts with chart success in recent years: Swedish DJ duo Icona Pop had a chart-topping single with “I Love It” in 2013, Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara had a Top 20 with “Everything is Awesome” in 2014, Australian pop duo The Veronicas had a smattering of well-performing singles (including No 8 “You Ruin Me” in 2014), and British dance duo Booty Luv had a No 11 album Boogie 2nite in 2007 and a No 2 single. But we might have to go back as far as 1992 for a Top 3 album by a UK female duo – Hormonally Yours, by Shakespears Sister who also topped the chart with single “Stay”.

Singers Tegan and Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara (Getty) (Getty Images)

But things could be set to change. On the rise are Nova Twins, a young south-east London urban-punk duo comprising Amy Love on vocals and guitar and Georgia South on bass and backing vocals, melding grime and punk, with a self-titled EP out. Love was a student at the British Academy of New Music in east London, with Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora.


 The Nova Twins have been startling audiences in London and beyond with their blend of grime and punk (YouTube)
 (youtube)

Let’s Eat Grandma, a duo of best school friends –17-year-olds Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – had rave reviews for their experimental pop debut album released in June.

“One of the most extraordinary records I’ve heard all year, and a heartening confirmation of boundless British creativity,” said Andy Gill of the album that bursts with infectious, but strange, songs steeped in cute, childlike vocals against an inventive combination of acoustic instrumentation from glockenspiel to recorder, which they themselves dubbed “psychedelic sludge-pop”. The album makes use of their childhood friendship; all the songs were written in their early teens, explaining titles such as “Rapunzel”, “Deep Six Textbook”, and “Welcome To The Treehouse Pts I & II”.

Let’s Eat Grandma, whose album ‘I, Gemini,’ Andy Gill thinks should be nominated for the Mercury Prize (Francesca Allen)

They may not be twins, or even sisters, but they’re as good as, having met at school aged four and grown up together in Norwich, bonding over their treehouses, and started writing songs as a duo at 13. The title of their album, I, Gemini, certainly hints at this kinship.

“It’s the idea of being individuals, but within a combined thing – obviously people do view us as being quite twinny and we cultivated that,” says Walton. “We make up one thing, but we’re also individuals.” She adds: “The relationship between two females is definitely underestimated and underrated. I think people assume that female relationships involve a lot of arguing. But in reality they’re quite powerful.”

In person, Let's Eat Grandma look entirely distinguishable. In promotional shots and on stage, however, they could pass as twins – the same tumbling wavy golden hair, matching shimmering eye makeup, sometimes identical clothes.

Also dressing identically and passing as twins (despite their marked height difference) is Brooklyn indie-pop band Lucius. The female duo of Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, lead vocalists and synth players fronting a male three piece, wear matching peroxide blonde (or auburn) bobs and stage costumes.

The female duo of Lucius are often mistaken for twins (Getty)

All of these female duos make use of both members’ vocals, which are often the driving force of these acts, as in the case of Lucius. The sweetness of their vocals make for glorious harmonising, a trait shared by most of these acts. The rising dark electro-pop duo of Bloom Twins, 19-year-old identical twins, Anna and Sonia Kuprienko, who moved to London from the Ukraine a few years ago and have toured with Duran Duran also feature both sisters’ vocals.

“Our singing harmonies wouldn’t be the same if we weren’t sisters,” states Lizzy Ward Thomas. “They make who we are musically”. Not that you can tell, listening to Lucius, that Wolfe and Laessig are not related.

As for being sisters or best female friends who’ve grown up together in a band, Lizzy says: “It’s great. We’ve done things together our whole lives – we’ve been in class at school, we’ve always loved the same kind of music and I can’t imagine doing this alone or with anyone else. We’re so in tune together because we know each other so well and that’s a massive help. It benefits when we create songs because we experience a lot of the same situations but take different viewpoints. We have a different mind when we get into the songwriting room.”

She adds that women want to hear other women, especially in the world of country music where trucks, girls and cowboys are regular themes of bro-country. “Females relate to each other and we know what we’re all talking about.”

In a male dominated environment on tour, female companionship is more than welcome. “The boys on tour, we’ve all known each other for years and they’re like our brothers, but it does get over-boyed when one of us goes home and one of us decides to stay.”

But being a female duo does inevitably create some unwanted preconceptions. “Sometimes when people see bands that have women in, but also male members it’s like, ‘It’s ok there’s a woman in this band, because you’ve got the validation of men in your band’,” bemoans Walton, who has been known to get a different approach from people who see there are no men performing with them: “It’s, ‘oh, you’re a girl band’ and we’re like ‘no we’re just a band!’”

Nova Twins play The Monarch, London, on 24 January. Tegan and Sara are on tour 13-19 February. Ward Thomas go on tour in April