WARD THOMAS, 22-year-old Hampshire twins Lizzy and Catherine, will make their major label debut with their second album, Carthweels, on September 9 on Sony Music/WTW Music. First single Carry You Home will arrive on July 8.

Ward Thomas were barely out of their teens when they issued their independent, country-crossover first album, the 25,000-selling From Where We Stand.

Its sequel was recorded in London and again is marked by the singer-songwriter sisters' trademark harmonies. “We have different voices that suit different sorts of songs,” says Catherine. “We call Lizzy the trumpet and me the French Horn.”

Title track Cartwheels was the first song they wrote for the new record and inspired what was to come. "It established our new sound," says Lizzy.

"Lyrically, it was much more grown up than anything on our debut. Sonically, it was a move away from country to lots of other influences we grew up with: our parents' Fleetwood Mac and Beatles records, KT Tunstall and Taylor Swift’s Red album. We're still influenced by country, we still adore the Dixie Chicks and Kacey Musgraves but this isn’t just a country album."

Produced largely by Martin Terefe, with three tracks by Jimmy Hogarth, Ward Thomas's 14 self-penned songs capture emotions "veering from the joyous to the heartbroken and everywhere in between". The track listing is: Carry You Home; Almost Easy; Material; Cartwheels; Guilty Flowers; Lose Me; Good On You; When It’s Not Me; Boomerang; Dirt And Gold; Where The Sky Is; Proof; Who I’m Not and Safe.

Ward Thomas's 16-date autumn tour will take in The Wardrobe, Leeds, on October 9 and The Welly, Hull, on October 12.