The Sheepdogs @ la Maroquinerie, Paris

As a potentially dangerous heatwave settles over the country, spending an evening packed into a sweltering underground club alongside several hundred dancing concertgoers might not seem like the wisest decision. Then again, The Sheepdogs are back in Paris. Three years after their previous visit and touring behind the excellent Outta Sight, the Canadians arrive with exactly the kind of music capable of making people forget the temperature for ninety minutes.

Part of the band's appeal lies in its command of a familiar musical language. The vocal harmonies, the twin and occasionally triple guitar attack, the deep-pocket rhythm section and the effortless grooves all evoke a particular strain of seventies North American rock. Close your eyes and it is easy to imagine these songs emerging from a studio somewhere in Muscle Shoals, Memphis or California during that era. Yet imitation has never been the band's objective. The Sheepdogs understand the tradition well enough to contribute to it rather than merely recreate it.

A major factor in that success is guitarist Jimmy Bowskill. Since joining the group several years ago, he has added another dimension to the band's sound. His fiery lead work provides the perfect foil for Ewan Currie's own guitar playing and vocals, and the chemistry between the two musicians remains one of the highlights of the live show. Their guitar interplay gives many of the songs an additional sense of momentum without ever overwhelming the melodies.

Because ultimately, that is where The Sheepdogs separate themselves from many of their contemporaries: the songs. Influences and aesthetics only take a band so far. Tracks such as "I've Got a Hole Where My Soul Should Be" and "Learn & Burn" stand comfortably on their own merits, whether or not the listener recognizes the lineage that produced them. By the end of the evening, after ninety minutes of grooves, harmonies and guitar work, the strongest impression left behind is not one of nostalgia but of continuity. The Sheepdogs are not reviving a tradition. They are adding to it.