Humbird leaves when the rivers freeze at Lizard Lounge on Wednesday, 11 October 2023.

Noble Dust a must in the opening slot.

When does “sold out” not mean “sold out?” More often than you think with physical media.

There are so many online platforms to sell your vinyl record, cassette tape, or CD. Artists are incentivized to sell, sell, sell across all of them to reach as many customers as possible.

If the inventory runs out on one platform, don’t despair! The record might be available on another. If you’re someone that likes to buy records via Bandcamp, and something looks sold out, check out other online music purveyors.

Check the personal website for the band, either they’re selling direct or will direct you somewhere else.

Check the online store of the band’s label too.

If the band’s local, you can check local record stores, which sometimes reserve a little extra inventory space for local bands.

If the band’s not local, check out their merch table. Case in point: Humbird’s Still Life is sold out at Bandcamp. But you could have bought it at the merch table on Wednesday at Lizard Lounge. You probably wish you did.

Noble Dust

Boston’s Noble Dust is a finger-picking, horn-blowing marvel. The band rolled out two-deep: one electric guitar and a trumpet.

A few ancient philosophical quandaries. How many grains of sand make a heap? How many planks can you replace on a ship and still call it the same ship? How many specks of Dust need to pile onstage before you can call the band Noble?

Looks like the full band counts six members. But rootsy Americana is the type of music that you can strip down, or layer up, as conditions permit. In truth, as long as you have a guitar on hand, you can put on a show. The trumpet is icing on the cake. It would be hard to roll out with a trombone and kazoo. Not impossible, just hard.

The pair of players performed a series of songs with heavy World War II themes. Heavy as a Panzer tank. Not necessarily what you expected from an indie folk show in the belly of Lizard Lounge on a hump day.

Sounded like the lead singer was inspired by old letters from a grandfather who fought in the war. Songs included “Last Dance at the Grove” and the title track to their recent LP A Picture For A Frame. Plus, a Wilco cover.

Humbird

Two-deep times two: an electric guitar and a standup bass. 

The woman behind the Humbird moniker is singer-songwriter Siri Undlin. Straight outta Minneapolis! A pitch perfect folk vocalist with a guitar slung over her shoulders.

Not sure if she’s a “regular” backing band (what counts as “regular”?) but if you heard her play a Lizard Lounge on Wednesday night with the standup bass player, you don’t want to hear Humbird any other way. Beautiful interplay between the finger-picking electric and bow-and-bare fingers bass work.

Humbird’s got a long road ahead on its “colder weather” tour. Don’t call it ‘winter!’ The journey takes a midtour turn through Undlin’s homebase of Minnesota, which is a nice touch, rather than designing a route with the standard grand finale homecoming show. 

You figure, by the time the tour is at its end, you just want to grab a milkshake at your hometown diner and chill out. Rather than schlep back up on stage one more time, like you’re some world-conquering hero, parading through triumphal arches, freshly-returned from subjugating foreign peoples for the glory of empire? 

Let the metaphors roll, baby!

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