Description
With musical inspirations drawn mainly from the Australian bush and farm life near Bungendore, NSW , the “Bond Traps” debut album “Out There” is an eclectic mix of original songs including bush ballads, Australian folk, and American blue country. The album captures the energy and musical creativity of this uniquely Australian group .
Bond Traps – Out There by Jane Harding
The Bond Traps are a five-piece ensemble hailing from Bungendore on the Southern Tablelands of NSW. They have been playing around local venues since 2005 and in 2007, they won the Majors Creek Junior Talent Quest and went on to perform at the Folk Alliance Australia Youth Concert at the National Folk Festival in 2008. Out There is their debut recording. The core of the group are young twins Ellena (vocals, accordion and recorder) and Isabelle Bond (vocals, harmonica, recorder, tambourine) and father Luke (vocals, guitar, kick drum, piano and harmonica). Tim Snowdon (double bass) and Ben Phillips (fiddle) provide solid support and depth to their sound. Isabelle and Ellena, with assistance from Luke, have also done all the songwriting for the CD. Their inspirations include life on the land, local bushrangers and the grownups in their lives. I believe that the Bond Traps are a very exciting live act. Unfortunately, in my opinion, their music has not transferred well to CD. The sound of little girls’ trebly voices soon palls in the ear of the listener and some of the instrumentation is clunky and overworked. One positive feature of this recording is the excellent arranging which helps to turn some very ordinary material into something which is tolerable. Sadly, the arrangers name(s) are not featured on the inlay card. Nor do the writers credit the traditional tunes that appear to have been borrowed for a couple of the songs (Lachlan Tigers for “Jackie Jackie” and Wildwood Flower for “Kath”). Having said all this, I do hope the girls stick at songwriting and performing. They are two very talented young ladies and can only get better with maturity and experience. I really loved the track “Snow Falling” – it’s simple, sweet and very suited to the performers. Another triumph for that anonymous arranger!
