Thief Sunchild by: Grace Arena Tue:05-Feb-08 Label: Sonar Kollektiv Year: 2007 WB rating 67 out of 100

Thief’s release, Sunchild is the long awaited result from the collaboration between two members of Jazzanova, Stefan Leisering and Axel Reinmer, with Sascha Gottschalk rounding out the trio. Thief are best known for their contributions to the Secret-Love compilations, and have collaborated with many electro/jazz based artists through Europe over the years.

There are clearly a variety of influences on the album, Sunchild sounding like early Gomez after a few bottles of good wine and a poetry reading, with their auspicious debut riddled with a plethora of different sounds including: acoustic guitars, strings, electro synth beats, jazz inspirations and orchestral arrangements. Often lyrics take backseat to the melody, as they explore the far reaches of their musical ability to produce a neo-folk release, which sounds structured, yet improvised with little decorative instrumental segways and bare, exposed and sometimes uncomfortable vocals.

Through these influences you can hear, there is something worldly about the German trio’s release. Musically they have explored the depths of instrumentation, and from the first few bars of the opening track you get the feeling their mature sound is going to prey on your eardrums, create a new comfort zone and take you somewhere invigorating, somewhere long forgotten.

One of the best examples of where Thief have merged the gap between the traditional singer/guitarist concept and stylised studio production, is the title track to the album, which opens with careful finger picking on an acoustic guitar and an extended introduction where strings, guitar, synth and drums continually layer themselves, combining to make it the most dense and potent track on the album, both musically and vocally.

‘Somewhere’ is a definite standout for its abandonment of the acoustic guitars which characterise the rest of Sunchild, its electro pop-style synth beats and repetitive hypnotising vocals somehow don’t sound as obscure as they should in relation to the rest of the tracks. This shift in genre produces a mellow, ethereal break in the album and its subtle dynamics and unassuming vocals still allow it to fit in and flow with the rest of the album.

The best way to describe Sunchild would be, constant. At no point do the vocals overpower the instrumentation or vice versa. But also at no point does the album reach a high point. Because of this consistency tracks tend to blend together and take on a feeling of sameness, as the music fades into the background it is easy to become distracted. While saying this, sometimes it is refreshing to listen to music that is not overly dramatic and wrought with angst, however there is something slightly self indulgent about aspects of Sunchild and on tracks like ‘Clouds’, Thief sound like they are just playing together, not setting out to making something special.