Jenny and Johnny

I'm having fun now, Warner Bros****

Jenny is Jenny Lewis, formerly of Rilo Kiley, one of the smartest, most cynical and critically acclaimed of US indie acts of recent years. Johnny is Johnathan Rice, a US singer-songwriter of Scottish descent who has enjoyed moderate cult success over the past five years as well as – if you look closely enough – a praised part in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Lineas Roy Orbison. They are distinctive songwriters – Lewis the more acerbic, Rice the more haunting. Together, they are the Sonny and Cher of the hipster crowd. That they are a real-life couple as well as creative collaborators adds to the fun they are having now.

The fundamental themes of the album embrace their collective experiences in the music industry ("I don't believe in suckin' your way to the top," sings Lewis sarcastically in My Pet Snakes) and the manner in which they push and pull as a couple.

Straight Edge of the Bladeexplores the conflicting subtleties of sexual attraction, Just Like Zeusreflects the immediacy of the album title with its lyric of being so attracted by your new partner that you're compelled to take "a real quick picture with you", while Big Waveinvestigates, with touching honesty, how even the best of relationships sometimes flounder: "I know you feel deprived (you don't trust me), our love is still alive (you never touch me), still it's just that I don't feel like it much these days."

The candour (by turns caustic and cute) is underpinned with music of sheer class. It's deceptively simple Californian power pop without the crunching riffs, it's fine-tuned FM radio melodies without the blandness, it's Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac with a strychnine-laced ladle of intimate confessionals and insightful remarks.

Jenny and Johnny are a fresh pop-rock-indie duo that are less She & Him and more His (Tom Petty) & Hers (Stevie Nicks). See jennyand johnnymusic.com

Download tracks: Switchblade, Straight Edge of the Blade, Slavedriver