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The Trouble Notes played to an appreciative audience of those “in the know” about this Progressive Folk Rock band, an apt label that the band has adopted. The folk aspect is the key, powered by Bennett Cerven’s fiddle. Folk music is typically an acoustic endeavor, but there are ample pedal affects involved, both for Cerven and guitarist Florian Eisenschmidt. There are no drums, but percussionist Julian Lardis, seated on a cajón, an acoustic drum box, accents the quieter moments and powers the music as it approaches its more climatic moments.
The folk aspect is heightened by Cerven’s penchant for song introductions. As an instrumental trio, he provides context for the culture, mood, moral reflections and other influences on their musical expression. Examples include spending a month in Paris to get to know the people and the pace (and finding its Celtic soul), reflecting on the Irish famine and immigrant hopes of a new life in America or the spirituality of places where people come together.
The “rock” aspect of the band shines through as the music builds, but it keeps its folk center on their collective sound to distinguish their music from, say, Jon-Luc Ponty’s jazz fusion featuring a larger band, unconventional time signatures or electronic influences.
Absent those, the “prog” elements can be heard as the song structures change, but without the genre’s knack for pretentious lyrics, much of it falls to the title of a song and the way the music makes one feel. The most recent example is “Storm Searching,” released as a prologue of what will be their new album with a continuing dramatic theme, prog indeed.
The band has grained attraction in Europe, helped by festival appearances, but also dealt a set-back by Covid just when the momentum was strongest. The band, though, has come a long way from busking in NYC and in Europe and are pursuing the US in hopes of catching a fan base as they’ve done in Europe.
They’re a fun band to catch live, for the stories, the music, each member’s expressions as they play, and organic audience participation. They continue on tour to Texas and the central US, and their music can broadly be heard on bandcamp.com.
