Sweet Nostalgia

‘I take comfort in being able to express fragments of the past through songs of old love and sounds of old music, all from the perspective of the present,’ writes clawhammer banjoist Allison de Groot in the liner notes of Sweet Nostalgia. Better words to describe the music created by this quartet of gifted Canadian women are hardly necessary. The ten tracks strike a perfectly balanced blend of traditional adaptations and original songs, which variously evoke the swinging harmony of a back porch hootenanny, the two-steppin’ meter and vocal harmony style drawn from the Metis folk tradition and the rootsy romanticism of American country. ‘All the Sweetness,’ an exquisitely delicate lullaby, written and performed by guitarist Vanessa Kuzina, lists a few of someone’s favourite things. ‘Kiss and Tell’ showcases bassist Marie-Josee Dandeneau’s affinity for jazz, set within a traditional Appalachian ‘love’ song laced with mountain humour (‘I don’t drink, and I don’t chew. I just run with these girls that do’). All in all, Sweet Nostalgia is an intoxicating Canadian brew.