Electro-pop Sisters embrace disability

Adelaide pop group The Sisters Of Invention is a band unlike any other.

The four women have been playing and writing music together for more than a decade, and they agree they are like sisters.

But it’s not longevity or fraternity that sets the quartet of Aimee Crathern, Michelle Hall, Caroline Hardy and Annika Hooper apart – it is the fact that each of the band members also live with a disability.

With an infectious, danceable brand of electro-pop and onstage antics such as lighting dolls on fire, the band helped audiences understand more about disability simply by performing, Crathern said.

“We’re not just disabled,” she said. 

“We are still people and we still have feelings. We still need to be loved like everybody else. I think that’s the main thing.”

The Sisters will headline a picnic show in Adelaide as part of a new disability arts festival in September.

Speaking at one of the band’s weekly rehearsals, Crathern said she got a thrill out of being on stage.

“I feel like I own the world,” she said.

“It’s a different feeling to just being fine and boring. It’s like something different comes over you and you feel so great and happy.”

Following the band’s self-titled debut in 2016, The Sisters recently released their second album, Stranger.

Hall said the album tackled some challenging subject matter.

“Our second album is possibly more mature-themed, like we have a song about suicide … (there are) more dark topics,” she said.

The singers wrote the music with several collaborators. While at times the writing process lasted only a few hours, other songs took weeks to produce.

Crathern said she felt the end result was a success.

“I’m hoping that more people will hear it and love it as much as we do, because we are very proud of what we’ve achieved over the last 11 years,” she said.

The Sisters perform a free show at the Embrace Picnic at Carclew House on September 25.

The Embrace disability arts festival plays venues across Adelaide from September 23-26.

If someone you know is struggling to cope or having a difficult time call Lifeline 13 11 14 or beyondblue 1300 22 4636 for help.