Company of Thieves – Ordinary Riches
February 25, 2009 by Editor
Filed under 2009 Releases, Album Reviews
Company of Thieves
Ordinary Riches
Released: February 24, 2009
Record Label: Wind-Up
Review:
The alternative rock leanings of Company of Thieves are highlighted by a highly creative songwriting style on their debut album Ordinary Riches. All of the songs on this album are dynamic and surprisingly polished for a freshman release. They sound like they’ve been honing their craft together for many years.
Genevieve Schatz’s breathy vocals sound spectacular on outstanding tracks such as “Oscar Wilde”, “Under the Umbrella”, and “New Letters.” All of the songs on the album are good, but these three tracks are truly brilliant and help set the flow of the entire album.
The production of the album was done very well. The instrumentation is not over-processed and sounds very natural. The production serves to accentuate the sound of the band and is never detracts from it. The song “New Letters” demonstrates just how powerful and how large a simple production can become.
This is a damned good recording from a very promising new act. The folks at Wind-up, are really starting to develop some great alt. rock and indie talent. Company of Thieves is quickly establishing themselves as a band to watch for many years to come.
Track Listing:
- Old Letters
- In Passing
- Oscar Wilde
- Quiet on the Front
- Pressure
- Around the Block
- Even in the Dark
- Under the Umbrella
- Past the Sleep
- The Fire Song
- The Tornado Song
- New Letters
Links:
http://www.companyofthieves.net
http://www.myspace.com/companyofthieves
Company of Thieves are three Midwesterners from Chicago and have released their debut, Ordinary Riches, through Wind-up Records (Evanescence, Finger Eleven, etc.). It seems this trio has come out of nowhere considering I’ve had trouble finding some informative reading material about the group, despite the fact Wind-up is currently the largest independently-owned record label in the world. I did, however, see they debuted on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart at #5. That has to be some kind of representation for promise.
The best aspect about this trio is singer Genevieve Schatz. She has a wispy, soulful voice and clearly has a lot of talent. If it weren’t 2009, I’d expect her to be singing in front of an old rockabilly microphone (go ahead and Google it). Schatz has that airy twang from decades ago. Even her photo in the album’s liner notes gives her a plain, flower girl-esque image.
As far as the sound goes, there really isn’t one song I have to skip back to again and again. On the contrary, I will say the bluesy soloing guitar in the latter half of “Under The Umbrella” is impressive, as well as the harmonizing [backing] vocals. Start to finish, the instruments don’t exactly jump out and grab you – a little distortion here, some gentle strumming and percussion there, but nothing spectacular. The production is done well, however. Granted, production can only take a band so far, but it doesn’t go unappreciated. It’s just too bad the album as a whole isn’t memorable, vocals aside.
While polished, Ordinary Riches is a so-so indie effort, and Schatz just isn’t the right fit for this alternative rock, poppy sound. Company of Thieves need to appropriately complement Schatz’s talent if they’re going to thrive as a complete package.