If Henry Handel Richardson had not already taken the name, the second Seeker Lover Keeper album could well have been given the title The Getting Of Wisdom.

Of course Henry was actually Ethel Richardson, a woman, a politically conscious citizen (that is, a very active suffragette), a writer in a male-dominated industry within a male-dominated society, who often was considered the oddity rather than the exceptional when surrounded by less talented men.

Any resonance for the SLK trio of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby? Check. Check. Check. And check.

However, while The Getting Of Wisdom was about the coming of age of a girl beginning to understand how hearts, desire and society worked, the wisdom of Wild Seeds comes from the perspective of three writers who have sneaked past 40, settled into relationships and multiple careers, become parents, and – not coincidentally – held their solo songwriter nerve to write collectively for the first time.

The kind of people who can say: “I don’t follow where the wind blows, I’m on the ground, feet on the ground” and be believed; the types who could then tell you: “Let it out, don’t be afraid/Of how you are, what you were” or insist that “you know who you are, you’re a superstar” without making you feel patronised.

The sort, in short, who know themselves well enough to – in two songs, Let It Out and Superstar – talk of running away as a release, not an escape, from the confidence of a return rather than the fear of an end. And then in Two Dreamers, one of the two LA-sunshine uptempo pop songs (incidentally both sung by Seltmann) on the otherwise mid-tempo album, make escape a joint exercise too.

Many songs here operate on reflection, in the aftermath of knowledge and in the comfort of succour given freely. On One Way Or Another, Blasko might sound characteristically haunted but with the echoing chorus of Seltmann and Throsby she actually brings certainty to a lover: “We’ll go one way, one way or another ... I know for certain that we can go on/Walking beside you, we’re lost and we’re found.”

But if it’s “wisdom”, it doesn’t mean genial benevolence. In More Women, Blasko isn’t for waiting or indulging.

“Wind in my hair and my bags are packed/I’m not looking back ... I’ll go on without you,” she sings, and Throsby and Seltmann chip in with almost offhand dismissal that would hurt more than the words.

Close listening might suggest particular elements are attributable to one or other of the trio: the driftwood on a river melody of Dear Nighttime feels quintessential Throsby; the joyful lilt of Beautiful Mind has the buoyancy of Seltmann; the almost stately processional of Time To Myself arrives as a Blasko template, for example.

But that’s a fool’s errand in songs which reflect the shared spirit of the three writers, that sense of tapping into each other’s strengths so that the play and interplay of these voices – each comfortable in delicacy and vulnerability; each controlled in the strength of their emotional base – isn’t doing all the work.

A better question than who did what, but an even harder one to answer, is why do two very good records by three brilliant songwriters, each of whom has made at least a couple of superb solo albums, feel like a bit of a disappointment?

As with its self-titled predecessor, Wild Seeds is, track to track, quite excellent and always – always – attractive to listen to. But again, it feels like an emotional deep dive is skirted because of a collective rather than individual spirit that means ceding ground, or holding back stark frankness.

It makes sense in a practical way, is understandable in a personal way, and as a reflection of the wisdom of three artists it doesn’t clutter messaging. But it does mean that brilliance feels within reach but is not quite touched.

Unreasonably high expectations? Yes, probably. Unfair to have those expectations? I don’t think so.

• Wild Seeds by Seeker Lover Keeper is out now through Liberation