Comments on: Company of Thieves – Ordinary Riches http://type3media.com/2009/02/25/company-of-thieves-ordinary-riches/ Music Is Our Passion Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:00:39 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Seth http://type3media.com/2009/02/25/company-of-thieves-ordinary-riches/comment-page-1/#comment-87 Seth Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:43 +0000 http://type3media.com/press/?p=530#comment-87 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. 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.

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