[rating=3.50]
At times when listening to Company of Thieves’ sound, one can almost feel as if they are placed within a theatric scene that actually is the song itself. Genevieve Shatz’s vocal style resembles a sound that could be placed in multiple eras of music and it fits a wide range of styles from jazz to blues to rock. Something of an antique style could be found on the Thieves’ debut album Ordinary Riches and that consistent vibration is translated on their second release titled Running From a Gamble. The balance between Shatz’s pure voice and poetic lyrics combined with Marc Walloch’s, at times, heavily overdriven guitar reach a threshold, but never overstep that fine line. To add, in Company of Thieves’ new project, there seems to be more of a presence of the keys/organ throughout the record which builds their overall sound and heightens the magnitude of the songs. On “Nothing’s In the Flowers” the quick organ slur towards the end of the piece increases the energy as Shatz reenters with a compelling vocal hold. Her passionate voice accents soothing and powerful ingredients to the energy of the arrangement.
Tracks like “Queen of Hearts” and “Death of Communication” gain momentum and resurgence as the songs progress. This album has a more distortion based quality to the instrumentals than the first but nicely adds an aggressive element to the songs. The heaviest song on the album, “Gorgeous/Grotesque” features somewhat of a compressed distorted hollow vocal style from Shatz that actually sounds like she is singing through an industrial megaphone. A recent sidewalk acoustic version of the song shown on their website suggests this interpretation. Running From a Gamble has some mellow points but the album is largely a swelling formation of poetic artistry that combine restricted forceful instrumentals with a “take me as I am, leave it all on the line” type of attitude.
