Sparrow and the Workshop

It's a sign of their sweet nature that Sparrow and the Workshop feel the need to apologise for the sweat dripping down most people's backs in the bunker that is Sneaky Pete's. They must surely be the ones most feeling the heat, if the sodden t-shirt of support act Ross Clark is anything to go by.

Any sign of heat-induced lethargy is so minute as to be incalculable though, and the multinational trio play a familiar alt-folk that marries both the blues and country, with Jill O'Sullivan's Grace Flick tones both coy and the cautious, yet ready to show their power when needed.

The almost Lee Hazlewood future cowboy production they have on record is lacking in the live set-up though, instead giving way to a set of stripped down values. It's not a bad trade-off though, and in this more intimate setting than most, it's nice to hear a song at its purest.

In fact, 'pure' is an apt term for this performance of real smiles and real songs. Pure to the core and pure class.