Lake Of Stew — Sweet As Pie

Lake Of Stew hail from the icy alleyways of Montreal, but if we didn't know any better, we'd think they occupied a cramped kitchen south of the Mason-Dixon line.

As it turns out, the band's culinary abilities rival their musical skills. Along with albums and T-shirts, the band's webstore also sells homemade onion confit, a Quebec-styled preserve best served with toast.

But forget lunch. Sweet As Pie is the group's sophomore effort, following Ain't Tired Of Lovin', a scrappy album the band says was recorded "with soup cooking in the background."

Sweet As Pie was released by Dare To Care Records, better known for the cabaret-punk of Les Georges Leningrad or the coked-up urbane country of Yesterday's Ring.

Still, the band sounds more like Mount Pleasant, S.C. than Mount Royal, and Sweet As Pie is a slice of old-timey jug-band bluegrass befitting of its title. It's a communal affair, and each tune is full of tinny banjos, whimsical kazoos, sprightly accordion and dopey washtub bass.

Vocalist Brad Levia, in particular, sounds like Hank Williams, Sr. with a lungful of birthday party helium, while the rest of the band chimes in with a potluck of pitch-perfect vocal harmonies.

It's like Buck Owens, were he more concerned with beaver tails than tiger tails. Or perhaps a Muppets remix of Deliverance.

But simmering beneath the band's carefree hammock-swinging aesthetic are strong regional undertones. The title track cheekily references a certain CanCon favourite ("I went to the record store/to get The Sadies record I was looking for") while elsewhere, they namecheck local neighbourhoods ("Pretty little Sarah won't you come with me/There's a hole in the fence down in NDG").

Lake Of Stew's puppy love tales might not be as timeless as Williams' yodeling heartache, but it's a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to lazy spooning sessions on the front porch. Wash this one down with a mouthful of jug wine or spruce beer.

Get it from