Tag Archives: The Trouble Notes

Prior to the album’s release The Trouble Notes said: “It’s different – it’s the biggest risk we ever took”.

They were right, it’s very different. Different from their previous albums. Different from what one would expect a music album to look like. Different from what supposedly caters to the almighty algorithms. But – when has great art ever been created from within the comfort zone?

The courage to dream big and do things their way has resulted in a unique, powerful piece of art (a music album, a narrated story and an illustrated book). It’s a tale of hope for everybody, who has ever felt lost in this world. It’s an invitation to dream together of a better world based on the spirit of community. Are you ready for a journey that has only just begun? Then let’s dive into the full “Echoes of Eldbriaris” review.

The logic of the album is driven by the progression of the story (parts 1-4 are interpretative)

Part 1 – Paradise

The first three tracks set the stage for the story album. They welcome the listener into the harmonious and prosperous homeland of the protagonists known as “Eldbriaris”.

Track #1, “Echoes of Eldbriaris”:
This song makes for a bold entrance. In still relatively typical The Trouble Notes fashion, the song slowly builds up tension. The drums (George Bingham, UK) kick things off with a rather slow rhythm, suggesting a dignified and festive occasion. Soon they are joined by the rocky sounds of a technically acoustic guitar (Florian Eisenschmidt, DE) blending into an interesting tapestry of sound. This tapestry serves as the foundation for the melody added by the violin (Bennet Cerven, US), first in slow and bold strides, then, once the main body of the song has been reached, in light-speed fashion reminiscent of an Irish reel. But The Trouble Notes give this traditional folk pattern their own twist by adding a slower part with ephemeral soundscapes and some distorted, rocky sounds in between those wild dancing sections.

Track #2, Narration 1 (The Harmony)
This is the moment when things really begin to be different. What follows isn’t a next song, but instead the beginning of an audiobook woven in in between the songs and narrated beautifully by the violinist and author of the novella, Bennet Cerven himself. With his exceptional story-telling skills Bennet invites the listener into his world, making one yearn for this cozy and peaceful land, “Eldbriaris” – reminiscent of “The Shire” in Lord of the Rings.

This is also the moment where the four protagonists, Emmerich, Seraphine, Kael and Saela are first introduced to the listener – and what an introduction! While the general pattern of the storyline seems pretty standard, the characterization of these four heroes is anything but standard. The description of the four lifelike characters doesn’t remind me one bit of any typical fantasy archetypes. Rather, they seem like real people with heart and soul, each with their own strength, each with their own struggles and each with traits that make it impossible not to like them. As a matter of fact, they seem so well-rounded and multifaceted and are characterized with such warmth that it wouldn’t surprise me if some authentic, real-life inspiration was involved in creating these characters.

Track #3, “So We Dance (feat. Reikas Tanz)
This song diverges far from what one would usually expect from an energetic, instrumental violin-led band. “So we dance” is written in a major key (usually minor), involves a lot of singing (with female vocals being added by Scottish singer Hannah Jo Mackinlay throughout the album) and comparatively little violin and except for a quick dancing tune to stay true to the title of the song, it’s a rather calm ballad that only picks up speed in the end when the combination of lead singing/speaking and some kind of chorus make it almost sound like musical theatre.

In the context of the story, this diversion from the usual troubled melodies is perfect though. The song and its lyrics match the cozy feeling of happy togetherness, of people singing and dancing while sitting around the campfire, that had already been summoned by the preceding narration. Thus, while it might take some getting used to, this unusual song goes to show how versatile The Trouble Notes can be musically, if that is what is needed to create an adequate soundtrack. Furthermore, the choice to feature the band “Reikas Tanz” on this track, adds to the impression that thoughtful preparation has gone into all aspects of this album, for what better fit could there be for this song than a band that combines cheerful, danceable fantasy folk with a positive, reflective message?

Part 2 – Catastrophe strikes – the protagonists take on a noble but perilous quest

But of course, after this disneyesque-Happy-End put up front, there wouldn’t be much of a story if everything in Eldbriaris had remained all fuzzy and untroubled forever. Beginning with Track #4 “A Fracture” starts showing up in the Eldbriaran “paradise”. And thus, the four young protagonists, inspired by Emmerich’s adventurous stories, set out to open sea and unknown lands to save their beloved homeland.

Track #5, No Land in Sight (feat. Stefan Klug, Fiddler’s Green)
“No Land in Sight”, yet again, sounds very different – but once more matches the preceding narration very well. It’s hard to sum up this song since, just as entering an adventure into the unknown, it is full of surprises. It starts out with Arabic sounds, reminiscent of older songs such as “Sands of Time”, which is most likely meant to symbolize the unknown the protagonists are about to enter. It then leads into dark, almost desperate seeming vocals, both in style and words, to suddenly be interrupted by a distorted, rhythmic guitar riff that Steppenwolf would have been proud of. After this sudden “interruption”, the song changes to a less desperate but equally dark, folk-rock opera, providing everything needed to sing and dance your heart out in search of redemption and catharsis and thus, below the surface, really isn’t all that different from previous The Trouble Notes songs that show similar potential for catharsis through liberating dance.

As with “So We Dance”, although the folky colour of the accordion to an otherwise rocky sound certainly adds to the song, the choice of featured artist also makes sense on a deeper level. Stefan Klug’s band Fiddler’s Green is known for successfully having pushed the genre boundaries of folk-rock for 36 years and thus is the perfect match for the genre-defying approach The Trouble Notes have manifested in “No Land in Sight”.

After another (now that the basis has been established) shorter narration titled “Storm” (Track #6), which sketches the protagonists’ emotional rollercoaster while trying to withstand the mighty force of nature, the corresponding song, “Storm Searching” follows.

Track #7, Storm Searching (feat. Benni Cellini)

This song is an update on the single of the same name, which was already released in October 2024. While in its basic structure a Celtic dance tune, the way the song is executed is pure prog-rock. As a real storm, the song builds up momentum slowly, mirroring a calm sea that evolves into a full-blown, menacing storm, ending with a full-on, distorted version of the still recognizable initial guitar and violin melody. In this build-up, the deep, sonorous cello part by Benni Cellini strengthens the impression of a darkening sky above the sea which the lucid tones of the violin would have struggled to convey on its own. “Storm Searching” represents both the unruly power of an outer as well as an inner storm which needs to be fought off. Besides, it has quite some head-banging potential, to lose oneself in.

Part 3 – Failure is imminent – hopelessness begins to spread among the protagonists

Whilst caught in the eye of the storm, darkness begins to spread within (Narration: Darkness Within, Track #8) as the protagonists walk the thin line between loss of hope and the desperate desire to live, eventually tumbling into the Abyss.

Track # 9, The Abyss (feat. Maria Vesna, Deloraine)
This song matches “No Land in Sight” in many ways, such as its dark vibes, its potential to surprise and a featured musician that fits the vibes of the song. But in accordance with the arc of suspense rising, “The Abyss” takes it even a notch further. The beginning is not only characterized by dark singing, but by a sense of imminent peril produced through very short, fast violin notes in the background that show next to no variation in pitch. In the next section, the singing doesn’t only reach powerful rock sounds as in “No Land in Sight” but summons the emotionally deep-running power of growling emphasizing the hopelessness of the moment. Eventually the song takes yet another unexpected turn, leading over into more peaceful sounds that feel like the feigned warm embrace of having come to terms with one’s doomed fate, mirroring the sensation of just letting oneself drift with the current instead of taking on yet another exhausting fight for survival, choosing the supposedly easy way out by accepting one’s own demise over enduring an endless chain of suffering.

Part 4 – New Hope is kindled – the protagonists spot a hopeful light in the distance

As the protagonists overcome the peak of the perils and new hope is kindled, musically the listener is steered back into more familiar waters.

Track #11, “Solospire”
“Solospire” does have an inspiring, hopeful singalong chorus that expresses the newly found hope of Emmerich, Seraphine, Kael and Saela, but apart from that it’s a purely instrumental piece, exhibiting the expressive-energetic folk-rock style of The Trouble Notes, reminiscent of many of their previous songs while also cleverly citing the melody of “Storm Searching”, Track #7 on this album, yet executing that same melody in a more optimistic fashion this time around.

After a last narration …

Track #13, “Virexium”
… introduces the city where the story after this prologue album will unfold. Similarly to the previous track, “Virexium” also has the characteristic The Trouble Notes ring to it. Nevertheless, this song is not a mere continuation of their previous work but a testament to how much they’ve developed since their first album. While earlier pieces had mainly been crafted on the streets busking, catering to the necessities of quickly grabbing the attention of passers-by through high-speed sound acrobatics, “Virexium” takes things more slowly. The result is a consciously built, more mature sound that applies the skills acquired on the streets (for instance to be able to change the character of a song in the blink of an eye) but puts the skills to use in a more conscious, targeted way.

The cherry on top of the cake – the illustrated book

The 1-2 page big illustrations, in the community spirit of the album collaboratively created by Samanta Scherer and Alina Clever, beautifully support the story at pivotal moments while still leaving enough space for interpretation to be filled by the reader’s imagination. Next to the in-book illustrations and cover art, Samanta and Alina also took care of the general layout of the book. In doing so they exhibited great attention to detail stretching from the various background colours to the decorated page numbers with many surprises to be found in between.

Even for those of us who are usually in it for the music, it would be a pity to skip the book; not only because of the illustrations and the opportunity to read the story, but also because one would miss out on Bennet’s emotional preliminary and closing remarks and the heartfelt descriptions of the team behind the project, all of which spread the same sentiment of community and appreciation that the story album as a whole does.

Conclusion

Although some of it is very different in sound from what people might expect, the story album carries the same energy of community, hope and catharsis that The Trouble Notes spread everywhere they go and is thus still very recognizably authentically them. Genre-defying fusion has always been part of their band identity, but with this album and the help of a team that understood their vision (the German music producer Christoph Beyerlein having had a defining impact in that regard), they have finally found a way to transform this “problem” of not fitting into any category into a strength. A good soundtrack doesn’t need to be all folk, all rock, all instrumental or whatever – it needs to produce the right emotion and the right images at the right moment in time – thus all their band history of busking, picking up local traditions everywhere they went and inspiring audiences with their storytelling seems to have prepared them for this moment of having the confidence and the courage to do things differently, to do things their way – to tell a fantasy story without mentioning a single fantastic creature or special power and still make it seem like magic.

The old Bard’s of Ireland underwent 12 years of training; The Trouble Notes have existed for 13 years – just the right amount of training to become “Modern Bards” keeping the ancient tales of the Island of Mnemorith (which translates to “streams of memory”) alive.

Thanks to Sigrid Ribbrock for valuable editorial feedback.

Editor: Sigrid Ribbrock
Photos: Stefanie Tendler
Artwork: Alina Clever and Samantha Scherer

You can find The Trouble Notes here:

• Website: https://www.thetroublenotes.com/
• Facebook: @TheTroubleNotes
• Instagram: @thetroublenotes
• Bandcamp: https://thetroublenotes.bandcamp.com/
• Spotify: The Trouble Notes