Live 2021-04-02 -- The Lost Trades
It took Bandcamp a while to get their live stuff up and running properly, after the first glimpse into their approach in December 2020.
The Lost Trades are a new band and this live concert was used to present their debut album. With some smaller releases thrown towards the masses in 2020, this one would present it all properly; deluxe edition and such. The band consists of two men plus one woman, who maintained social distance, while swapping instruments without cleaning them, but this could be quite a tricky issue. Also, maybe it is not that easy to get this done properly without having a negative effect on the sound of the instruments. Or maybe the band and the crew had already been vaccinated, so the issue of getting a severe form of Sars-Cov-2 was not of an issue.
Anyway, the setting was as what you can expect: several instruments, desks, a flag in the background, mics were arranged in some kind of semi-circle and hardly any drinks were to be found. Maybe they gulped down a bottle or two afterwards. Serious business, then. The recording, the cameras and the chat were handled by a small group of supporters. This is definitely a good thing, because it keeps the distraction away from the musicians and enables the band the "respond" to audience. How? Well in the first track the bass-guitar was only appearing in a visible kind of way, while being on vacation in terms of the sound. The writer of these lines complained about it and the bass was turned up a bit or received a rougher treatment. Whatever they did, with the beginning of the second track the sound was better. Not perfect, because the percussions were too loud and one of the mics was not loud enough, but overall it was quite good.
The band wanted to deliver and they did deliver. It is not often to see such a performance for a crowd of only roughly thirty people + local crew. With an entire album plus bonus track (deluxe edition) to present, the band did waste too much time and offered the audience what all "came" for. The music is as can be expected: cheerful, very harmonic, possible to sing along. They even made a threat that one of their tracks would require participation of an audience once they have the opportunity to play in front of once again. Good to listen to, charming, and interesting is what comes to mind when listening to this release. A well done performance of well done tracks; as of writing these lines the music is not available to listen to ... with the exception of one track that is.
If all, which they are not, streaming performances are of this quality, then this is definitely something that can help bands to reach a wider audience. This 1:15h was quite enjoyable.
They play folk music ... just in case anyone was wondering.