Time Keeps Ticking Away, Always Running Away

We are a decade and a half since the heyday alternative rock when Lollapalooza was the lone traveling circus of semi-homogeneous musical acts. It was also the first to die out after Metallica overtook the headlining reigns turning the show into the cooperate entity that many early fans despised. Now back into its roots, the show now in festival form in Chicago, home of Company of Thieves, a band that would have fit right in during the early tours with the release of its debut album, Ordinary Riches.

The trio, fronted by pixie Genevieve Schatz, crafts poppy alternative rock that sometimes takes its time to gestate with some songs passing the five minute mark but manages never to seem that long thanks to changing tempos and deliveries. Take Under the Umbrella, a bouncy love song that turns into an arena rock shout along to the point you may think it’s two different songs. Then Oscar Wilde (the album title comes from one of his quotes), a song that starts off with a classic rock riff that turns into a groove before you hit the chorus where you will want to sing the ironically chipper delivered, “We are our own devil.”

Other standouts include the smooth Pressure which continues to build throughout the song before breaking during the chorus only for the song to end with a sweet acapella coda from Schatz. The album closes out New Letters, a soothing song the ebbs and flows for its six minutes as it builds up steam for an ending that will leave you wanting more.

Song to Download – New Letters

Ordinary Riches gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.