The Candle Thieves - Sunshine And Other Misfortunes (Album Review)
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Friday, 05 November 2010 |
Written by Dave Ball
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Before getting into this review, I should first point out that this isn’t a brand new album. In fact it was released in April of 2010 so is a little over 6 months old. However, having seen them perform a support slot for Badly Drawn Boy recently (and completely out shine him I should add) I felt compelled to write something to draw more attention to this little known band.
The Candle Thieves are a pair of friends from Peterborough who, having been schooled together, went their separate ways while both achieving moderate success in other bands. Scott McEwen sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar (mainly, more on that later) with the keyboard player simply known as ‘The Glock’. Having realised their hearts weren’t in the music they were playing they came together again in 2008 and The Candle Thieves began.
With the name coming about from The Glock’s tendency to steal candles from wedding parties, there are plenty of things to be curious about with this band and this is where their initial appeal lies. They have been attracting attention mainly due to their unique outlook on touring.
 Having asked online for suggestions on where to play, they have spent the past 6 months playing in people’s gardens, kitchens and local pubs and wowing audiences with the mixture of bizarre instruments, which include glockenspiels and Casio keyboards to make a unique sound. According to The Glock they don’t go out of their way to use things for the sake of being different, they just want certain sounds and use whatever will make that. Regularly ending gigs by setting off party poppers and lighting sparkers there’s certainly a fun element to everything their doing on the surface.
All of this leads to a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable live experience but what are the songs like?
Both men make no effort to hide their admiration of Eels style of writing cheerful sounding pop songs with a melancholic undertone and their influence shows through in most of their songs, particularly album opener ‘We’re All Gonna Die (Have Fun)’.
As the album runs along the bulk of songs follow a similar pattern with a chirpy, wonky pop type sound sitting below McEwen’s voice which falls somewhere between that of E from Eels and Sam Duckworth (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly). ‘The Sunshine Song’ and ‘Breathing (Just For You)’ in particular, sounding like tracks which would drop into any Get Cape album seamlessly.
It’s in the slower tracks where the quality of the pairs song writing starts to shine through above the gimmicks and chirpy sounds. Most of the early tracks maintain that pop veneer but as you move further in and hit later tracks such as ‘Catching Wasps’ and ‘Stars’ you realise there is something very serious about the content here disguised by the fun sounds they’re making. There’s a subtle feeling of a deeply personal sense of loss and sadness that appears the more you listen here and this gives the album a rewarding quality.
‘Bright Lights’ may be the lyrical highlight of the album. Another of the more stripped down tracks with a simple backbeat the song has the feel of being let into the painful thoughts or memories of someone who’s suffered through these experiences themselves. How much of the album is autobiographical I’m unsure but, even if it isn’t there is a truly personal feel to the way these songs have been written which creates a real connection to the songs.
The Candle Thieves are without doubt a band who will continue to draw the majority of their media attention from the novelty aspects of their live performances but I strongly recommend listening deeper to appreciate the real emotion wrapped up in that pop exterior.
Commercially there hasn’t been huge interest in this album so far but there are potential hit singles here and the personalities of the two give them an instantly likeable quality. They’re never going to appeal to the X Factor masses but I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see more attention garnered as time goes on.
Stereoboard Album Rating: 8/10
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