Belle of the Fall
Audio Feed
Old State House Square Food Court
Hartford
Oct. 20, 2026
After their concert to kick off the fall season of the Audio Feed concert series, I asked the duo Belle of the Fall how they would characterize their music. Members Tracy Walton and Julia Autumn Ford took a moment to think, before concert organizer Chip McCabe came to their rescue.
“I call it folk noir,” he declared. Walton and Autumn Ford nodded in agreement. Folk noir it is, and it’s a fitting way to describe the fusion of traditional sounds with modern technology that gives Belle of the Fall its eclectic, haunting sound.
I knew Belle would be different when I saw Walton’s upright bass, to date the only upright bass I’ve seen at an Audio Feed performance. Belle’s music benefits from the heavy, woody sound the upright bass provides.
The lyrics for their songs are equally striking. I enjoyed their performance of “The Tallest Man in the World,” a new song off their upcoming album, the duo’s fourth. As its name suggests, the song is about the tallest man in the world, and how that isn’t always a great experience. He gets his heart broken by the shortest woman, as Ford conveys the ironic sadness of the situation.
Walton combines the anachronism of the upright bass with technological enhancements to create a sound that’s out of this world. His technique was most evident on the appropriately titled “Earthbound,” the title song from their first album. Walton said he uses a Phase 90 pedal, some reverb and “the secret sauce” to create the futuristic, electronic sounds that make Earthbound such an interesting song.
As the song went on, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a cult classic videogame from the '90s also called Earthbound. Like Belle, the game is a sometimes silly, sometimes sobering, but always psychedelic trip through Americana and Western traditions.
The term “noir” is especially appropriate then, as in the artistic context it refers to a kind of introspective melancholy that affirms the joys of life by distilling them through sorrow. Belle’s “Earthbound” is about the downward slope of a relationship, after the emotional highs have faded and it’s time to come back down to earth. It’s a noir-style take on the love song, and again is reminiscent of the way the game Earthbound approached music as something that can hurt, in this case literally.
Belle of the Fall has a unique sound they’ve honed by playing together for over a decade. Whether you call it folk noir or something else, it’s music that makes you think and makes you feel at the same time, which is a rare treat.
NEXT
Jamil is back at the Old State House to hear Xavier Serrano.