If Edie Brickell was a little more of a rocker – and had a strong literary fetish – she might sound like Genevieve Schatz, lead singer of Chicago’s Company of Thieves. By dint of steady touring and strong Windy City support, the band managed to turn its 2007 debut, Ordinary Riches, into a DIY success – one which Wind-Up is now seeking to take national with its licensing deal for the record, a deal that includes heavy promotion on iTunes and the talk show circuit, as well as a string of dates opening for labelmates Thriving Ivory. Whether the big push is a result of the label’s belief in the band or simply a function of a typically weak first-quarter release schedule, it’s still a remarkably lucky break for Company of Thieves; the band’s music is enjoyable enough, but nowhere near as colorful as you might expect, given their penchant for quoting Oscar Wilde. Ordinary Riches contains elements of rock, blues, and folk, but major chunks of the record sound like nothing so much as a band marking time until a musical identity drops in its lap. Given enough opportunities, they may actually find one – songs like the closer, “Under the Umbrella,” hint at a sound that could rebuild the bridge between old-school AOR and Top 40 – but in the meantime, this is a fairly Ordinary debut. (Wind-Up 2009)
