Canadian women singers seem to specialise in immaculate harmonies, as the McGarrigle Sisters, the Wailin’ Jennys and Be Good Tanyas have all shown. The Sweet Lowdown can be added to that list. They are an acoustic trio from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, who play stylish guitar, fiddle and banjo, and all write songs, with easy-going ballads matched against instrumentals that echo Appalachian styles or Celtic jigs. There are times when they sound a little too pleasantly cheerful, as on River Winding Down, about flooding and climate change, and they could do with less songs about travelling and exile and more like the thoughtful Fallout, which deals with Canada’s uranium industry and Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. But they are an impressive trio and deserve to be as well-known here as in Canada. They sound perfect for summer festivals.
