Courtesy Ben Moon The Shook Twins, who moved from Idaho to Portland in 2009, released their new album “What We Do” earlier this week.

When asked if she’s excited about the impending arrival of “What We Do,” Shook Twins’ third album, Laurie Shook didn’t hesitate.

“No. I’m super-bummed about it,” she said.

Well, it was April Fools’ Day, and a stupid question to boot.

Shook quickly added, “Yeah, I’m so excited. We’re both so excited. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been a year.”

The 11-song album, released Tuesday, was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Ryan Hadlock (Fleet Foxes, The Lumineers) and has all the gorgeous harmonies and rootsy-folk-meets-modern sensibilities that are hallmarks of the Shook Twins, a quartet that includes Laurie’s identical twin, Katelyn, along with Kyle Volkman (bass) and Niko Daoussis (mandolin, electric guitar and electric drums).

As part of their record-release tour, the Shook Twins will headline Bend Spring Festival on Saturday night (see “If you go”). The four are being joined on tour by drummer Russ Kleiner (“who’s freakin’ amazing,” said Laurie Shook) and, for the Bend date only, fiddler Chris Lynch.

“We’re pumped. We get everybody,” Laurie said.

The Shook sisters have called Portland home for the last four years, but grew up in Idaho.

“We were always the kinds of twins that liked being twins. There are definitely ones that don’t like it,” she said.

Their musical aspirations started after their original ambitions to be zookeepers and teachers.

“We were always in choir, but we didn’t start playing instruments until we were out of high school,” Laurie said. “We didn’t really have the ‘I want to be a rock star-singer’ idea when we were growing up, but after we started learning instruments, we started playing out of college. We just kept doing it. We didn’t really stop. We were like, ‘OK, this makes sense. Let’s keep doing this.’”

Several of the songs on “What We Do” are not very new, Laurie confessed.

“It takes us a while to write an album,” she said.

The title track, written by Katelyn, is one of Laurie’s favorites.

“There’s a mantra at the end that says, ‘We put our troubles on the moth wings, and we open the windows,’” she said. “It’s about a relationship that’s buried in too much negativity, letting go of things that don’t matter and holding on to the things that do. It’s just kind of about how we live our lives, and what to let go of and what to keep.”

A Laurie song called “Crisper” harks back to the twins’ childhood.

“That (song) deserves an explanation,” she said, laughing. “It’s about times when Katelyn and I were 7, and we were really good at money, saving it and keeping it. So we would spray dollar bills with water and put them in big books overnight. In the morning, they’d be all crisp and brand new.”

Another tune, “Shake,” is your basic “futuristic apocalyptic gospel-swing ballad. It’s about the earthquake that’s doomed to come to the West Coast and kill us all,” Laurie said, laughing cheerfully.

The scenario in the song isn’t all bleak. “A couple of people do survive, and we have to start over, growing our own food and sharing with each other, just doing it completely differently. And then the people who are made of greed, and come from oil, will get shaken down by the earth.”

Along with their singular sound, the Shook Twins will bring to Bend their signature golden egg, a sort of percussive stage prop with a long, colorful back story and, possibly, to hear Laurie tell it, wish-granting powers.

“It’s just a magical, awesome egg that (grants) wishes,” she said. “It totally does. I make wishes on it all the time, and other people do, too. They come true. It’s just my manifestation of magic really. I stuck some popcorn in it and made a huge, giant egg shaker, and I stuck a little contact mic on there, and it’s a drum as well.”

The Shook Twins perform with regularity around Central Oregon, partly because the people here are good at amassing into audiences.

“We kind of try to keep coming back (to Sisters and Bend) because it’s so great,” she said. “We love it: the support and the vibe. People are really into music over there and really good at being audience members.”

(Confidential to Visit Bend: A possible promotional tool to go alongside beer, dogs and the outdoors? “Central Oregon: Home of really good audiences!”)

For those yet unfamiliar with the twins’ musical prowess, Laurie said, “We like to have a good time. I like to say it’s a little bit like hanging out in the living room with friends, hopefully. We like to connect with the audience and, yeah, let go of the things that need to be let go of.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com