Century Thief

Taking the boom of indie rock and using the oft-underused technique of raw, layered vocals, Century Thief is certainly doing good work in a great way. The six-piece from Toronto are ramping up to their Sept 10 release of their first debut album, “Reverie”, and the first samples from it will certainly put you into a daydream. The backbone of both “Pillar” and “City Banks” are the beautiful vocal harmonies. In Pillar, they hit soaring highs, carried along by the pulsing drums, with horns, strings and woodwinds gently carrying, tastefully layered along with the backup vocals, never losing a single moment of this well-orchestrated (literally) piece. Parts flutter and fade to and from the forefront, creating a beautiful swell that really hits all at once, not making any one single musician the star, but rather the music itself. City Banks waltzes along, with trumpets, violins and flutes all creating a great counterpoint melody. The song builds and builds, while the rock inclinations of the band come to the forefront, crashing and stomping through, creating a great contradiction that pieces together perfectly. The lead vocals portray a raw soul, with the layers upon layers supporting underneath to drive the point straight home, effective in its brief length, not wasting so much as a second of the listeners time. If you love the beauty of ambient-rock, and dig orchestral instruments even more, that these guys are a definite buy. You can catch them on their CD Launch Tour, Sept 10th at The Piston, with a handful of dates following. - Cody Wright - The Deli Magazine

Album: Reverie
Release Date: September 10, 2015
Download Link: To Be Added
Genre: Indie/Folk/Rock

Century Thief is an indie-folk-rock group from Toronto, Ontario. The band’s line-up consists of Mike Legere, Kathryn Kearns, Omar Shabbar, Adam Reid, Alex Furlot, and Jason Cliffen. To date, the group has released three EP’s – Bury the Hatchet Presents Omar Shabbar, Bury the Hatchet Presents Kathryn Kearns, and Plume. In October 2013, the band released “EP Anthology” containing the tracks from their first three extended plays.

Their first full-length album entitled “Reverie” will be released on September 10, 2015. The album contains thirteen tracks including the single “Pillar.” The date coincides with the Album Release Party at The Piston in Toronto.

Upon listening to Reverie, I was hooked from the opening track “Time Goes.” I found myself listening to the album on repeat in its entirety. After each listen, my favourite tracks changed slightly. As I am writing this, they are currently “Time Goes,” “Oh Beautiful Impermanence,” and “Memo.” The songs are well-written and performed very well. It is an overall strong release, and great introduction to the band.

I would recommend listening to their single “Pillar” to get a taste of the album. If you enjoy it, pick up the full album. It is definitely worth checking out.

Rating: 5/5 - Canadian Beats

Century Thief is an indie folk/rock six piece that hails from Toronto, Canada. The band’s talented members bring with them a myriad of pastoral, stirring musical instruments with them to go along with their arresting vocal harmonies. Century Thief says they’ve taken a collective approach on their debut album Reverie, featuring songs from four different members to show a lot of diversity without compromising the unity that binds the album together. The first single off Reverie is a verdant and folksy gem named Pillar. It’s an airy, plucky song steeped in a lush sophistication that reminds me of some of my favorite songs from Typhoon, with a touch of San Fermin. Reverie will be released on September 10th. - I Heart MOOSIQ

Canadian indie-folk/rock band The Century Thief will be releasing their full-length debut album "Reverie" on September 10th. The focus of the songs, according to the band, deals with "the boredom and comfort of unhealthy situations, poisonous loves, cruel social structures, doubt and dead end routines." The new thirteen song release begins with the gentle build up of "Time Goes," a lovely mixture of Americana, roots and folk pop music that easily draws you in to their sound. They kick the tempo up with the horns of "Stick Stone" and lend a country hand to "Memo" as The Century Thief show a little diversity in their music. They incorporate a New Orleans jazz flair in "Centre Street" as the band's sound continues to grow with the infectious rhythm of "House On Fire." To find out more about The Century Thief and their new album "Reverie," please visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/centurythiefmusic. - Jp's Music Blog

As they say, there’s strength in numbers. More and more these days dedicated listeners can track emerging bands as the foil in front of a principle songwriter. Case and point, Tame Impala. Many people know Tame Impala as a band, but up until their latest album cycle for Current, the focus was on nameless faces behind the genius of Kevin Parker who now stands along in their press shots.
So it’s always refreshing to be introduced to a “band” in the truer sense of the word with Toronto indie-folk sextet Century Thief readying their next LP, Reverie. The 13 track album features songs written by four different members, with latest single “Pillar” building up like a thunderstorm with harmonies on par with Milo Greene’s debut.
On the process behind Reverie, the band shares:
“The studio allowed us to experiment as a band and brought us closer together as a unit. We ended up with a 13 song album about fighting stagnation. It’s an honest attempt to understand the boredom and comfort of unhealthy situations, poisonous loves, cruel social structures, doubt and dead end routines.
There’s a resistance to action that prefers a daydream. Although there is frustration in this, there is also solace in community that makes it more of a celebration of the struggle and our ability to persevere through love and acknowledgement.
The music is sometimes upbeat, sometimes somber, and occasionally veers into manic noise, but we loved making it and we hope you’ll enjoy listening to it.”
Stream Century Thief’s “Pillar” below and look for Reverie out September 10th. - Speak into my Good Eye

You are set to play a show at the Musiikki Café on February 21st, what should people expect to see and hear during the show?

Omar: Well there are six of us in the band, so you’ll see a lot of people on stage! Because of this we’re able to explore a lot of options with melodies, harmonies, and countermelodies.

Mike: Yeah, we’re a collective with three principal songwriters. We’ll be playing some from the EP and album. We’ve worked in a few new ones too. People can expect a mix of high-energy fun danceable rock songs and moody slow building lyrical songs.


You are out playing shows to promote your upcoming release in the Summer how has the reception been to the songs so far?

Omar: Well, so far we’ve only shown the album to a select number of people as we’re waiting for the finished project before we unveil it. But we’ve spent a very long time on this album and I think it’s something we’re all very proud of.

Mike: The reception live has been good so far. We were playing the songs for a while before we started recording. We basically chose to record the ones that we felt were the strongest and worked together. It was important that the songs flowed well. We make use of a lot of transitions when we play live, and we wanted that to carry over to the album.image1


Do you have a lead off single from the album so far?

Omar: Yes, we do. It’s called ‘Pillar’. We’re starting the process to make a music video for that song and it’ll be released shortly before the album launch.

Mike: We also released a live video for it a little over a year ago, it’s up on our youtube. It captures the energy of it, but In the studio we got to add little touches, like flute and atmospheric guitar that I think really add to the feel of it.

What is your favourite song off of the album right now?

Omar: For me, it’s probably House on Fire. We all liked the song going in, but it just didn’t translate quite how we wanted it to, especially in the context of the album. So it’s completely different now from where it started out, it became a lot more experimental.

Mike: Pillar is definitely up there for me; it’s got a very slow and ominous build that turned out really well in the studio. We also got to mess around with this big noise scape in Oh Beautiful Impermanence, the whole song kind of dissolves into chaos, which I’m a fan of.

How many songs are going to appear on the album?
Omar: There are 13. 4 are written by me, 4 by Mike, 4 by Kathryn and an instrumental by our trumpeter Adam Reid, we’ll be playing that one at Musiikki.


You currently have a EP Anthology on sale right now, do some of the songs appear on the upcoming album?

Mike: Yeah, some of them will be on the Album. All of the songs from the Acoustic EP, Plume, are electric on the album, so the energy is drastically different. We wanted to make things simple for the EP, showcase the songwriting but pull back instrumentally. For the album we really got to expand on the songs, our Co-Producer Matthew Drost helped us create some really cool sounds, and we did a lot of experimenting.

Why are you choosing to go with a full length album now and not another Ep?

Omar: We’ve done a few EPs already and with four writers, we have more than enough material to fill an album.

Mike: Yeah, also we are all big fans of the album as a medium, you can do certain things on an album that you can’t really do on an EP. You get to really establish a mood, and take it more places than in the shorter time frame of an EP.

What do you think it is about your sound that has audiences and fans dig and show up to your live shows?

Mike: There is a lot of energy in all the music. There’s an intense quality to a lot of the songs, but you don’t always notice it because it’s often buried under really happy sounding melodies. Adam writes these brass melodies that can make any song sound fun.

Omar: I think people at our shows are really into our instrumentation and arrangements. We’ve got drums, two guitars, keys, flute, clarinet, trumpet, bass and three part harmonies, so there’s a lot to work with!

Links?

Our EP Anthology here
http://centurythief.bandcamp.com

Check out our southern souls video here
http://southernsouls.ca/century-thief

The live video for Pillar here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAF4domh8Ek&spfreload=10

Stay up to date on shows and album details here
https://www.facebook.com/centurythiefmusic - Kingston Music Reviews

Century Thief’s new album drops in a couple of weeks (Sept 10th). In the meantime you can listen to the first single “Pillar”. The song feels restrained but it is actually brimming with subtle arrangements. - Ride the Tempo

Intensely lyrical are the first words that came into my head when listening to Century Thief’s acoustic EP titled, Plume, a lead up to their upcoming full length record which is currently in production.

Century Thief is comprised of six very different musicians, including Mike Legere who plays guitar, piano and supplies a good chunk of the vocals for the band. Mike originally started playing drums and picked up guitar later on once he began writing songs. He is originally a Maritimer from NS, and moved to Toronto to study English at York University where he was fortunate enough to meet the rest of the members of Century Thief. Mike and I spoke from Toronto where he now calls home.

Band members Kathryn Kearns, Omar Shabbar, and Mike himself were all originally playing music together and each of them have released their own solo EP’s with each other playing on one another’s solo records. They eventually decided to form a band and bring their individual talents and influences together to form Century Thief. Rounding out the band is former metal drummer, Greg Francis, along with Steve La and Adam Reid who provide vocals and cello, and trumpet, respectively.

Although they may have felt rushed in the past when recording their acoustic EP, ‘Stay Stranger’ which was released in June of this year, they are finding the recording process this time around more enjoyable. They are again working with producer Matthew Drost while recording their full length record, in a studio which was once a mannequin factory, which is owned by Drost. “We had a help from Matthew on our acoustic EP but did a lot of it ourselves. We are very fortunate to have him on board for this album and having his expertise to guide us.”

For the full length, they are taking their time and enjoying the long but rewarding recording experience so far. “We are lucky to be able to take our time with this record, really enjoy the experience and polish it into what we ultimately want it to be.”

Due to the amount of members in the band, although they wish they could all record together as a whole band, it is often just not feasibly possible with their schedules, “As many people that can go in to record, go in together at one time. With time constraints with each members schedules outside of playing music, it gives us each personally more focus on the tracks and how our instruments are going to sound.”

Although there was no intended theme to this record, Mike can see one emerging all but by accident. “There are a few tracks to do with distance, distance between people, hierarchical distances, it definitely wasn’t intended.”

Century Thief also had the pleasure of recording two videos with Mitch Fillon of Southern Souls which took place on band members Kathryn Kearns deck in Toronto. “Most of our members are from Ontario are familiar with, and love Mitch’s work and have been watching his videos for awhile. We wanted to do a video but didn’t have the means to do a huge music video production, so we turned to him to help us out.”

They were invited to play a showcase during this years NXNE festival in Toronto, a week long music and arts festival. “It was a lot of fun, definitely one of my favourite shows we have played so far and it was a great experience.”

Century Thief will take a short break from recording while they embark on a Maritime Tour, introducing some of the band members to the Maritimes for the very first time.

Being a huge music fan myself, I am always picking my musician friends brains on what they are currently listening to, so i had to ask Mike what was on his playlist right now. “I love Land of Talk, Wye Oak, Okkervil River and Formalists who are from Thornhill just released their EP. And of course Wilco, definitely a big favourite.”

You can catch Century Thief on their Maritime Tour starting in PEI at Baba’s on October 8th, in Fredericton at James Joyce with locals Shorty Tubbs and Cedric Noel on October 9th, in Halifax at Michael’s Bar and Grill on October 10th, and in Sackville, NB at Pickles European Deli on October 11th with Fredericton’s own Josh Bravener.

https://www.facebook.com/centurythiefmusic

http://centurythief.bandcamp.com/

http://www.southernsouls.ca/century-thief/ - Giraffecycle

When Dartmouth native Mike Legere was scoping out universities in his senior year of high school, it was York University in Toronto that won him over in the end – not because of its stellar liberal arts program or its high ratings in Maclean’s magazine, but because of the diverse and vibrant music scene that surrounded it.

“I have played music most of my life, since my family is very musical. When I had to choose somewhere to go to university, I listened to a lot of bands in Toronto and thought it would be a good place to go,” said Legere.

His decision paid off. It was there that he met a crop of other enthusiastic young musicians keen on forming a group, and that’s how Century Thief – formerly known as Bury The Hatchet – was born.

Four years later, the folk-rock group has released one full-length album and three EPs, with another full-length album, Sabotage, set for release in the next few months.

The group is composed of Mike Legere (songwriting, guitar and vocals), Omar Shabbar (songwriting, electric guitar), Kathryn Kaerns (songwriting, piano, clarinet and flute), Steve La (cello), Adam Reid (trumpet) and Greg Francis (drums), but “everybody sings and we often have massive harmony parts.”

“We have a wide variety of instrumentation and we all really focus on the lyrics in our music. It’s sort of folk-inspired rock music, so there’s definitely some really loud and big builds that we do. But we’re not afraid to bring it down, as well,” said Legere, adding that the group is most often compared to Arcade Fire.

“Each songwriter has their own specific style that they input. I studied jazz [at York University] so a lot of the times I try and incorporate more abstract chords or progressions, whereas I don’t focus as heavy on lyrics as Mike does,” added songwriter and electric guitarist Omar Shabbar.

“We bring a lot of full band energy and we’re very harmony-centric. A lot of people are really impressed that we have [so much instrumentation], like a trumpet, cello, flute, clarinet, et cetera. I think if I saw a band like that, I’d be pretty pumped.”

Shabbar and his fellow bandmates certainly hope to impress in Fredericton tonight, Oct. 9, at the James Joyce Irish Pub on Queen Street alongside Shorty Tubbs and Cedric Noel as part of their first East Coast tour.

“When we were deciding on places to contact [for the tour], we were adamant on going to Fredericton,” said Shabbar who, like Legere, has some ties to the East Coast.

“Audience members can expect to see a lot of energy, since we’re coming as a full band. There’s lot of really epic builds in the songs that we’ll be playing,” added Legere.

“It will be pretty explosive and just a lot of fun.”

Tickets can be purchased for $6 at the door for tonight’s show, which begins at 8 p.m. - The Brunswickian

If there is one thing that many independent musicians will tell you, it isn’t hella cheap to make a record. Sure, the technology to make albums at home is probably the best it has ever been but nonetheless, there is still money to be spent when it comes to getting a new record released.

Enter Toronto folk group Century Thief. Like many before them, the group has launched a fundraising campaign to help offset the costs of getting new music released. I spoke with Century Thief member Mike Legere about the group’s Indiegogo campaign in advance of the group’s performance at James Joyce Irish Pub (659 Queen St., Fredericton) on Wednesday October 9.

Your Indiegogo campaign to raise $2000 is a rather modest goal however competition for the public’s money via these campaigns isn’t exactly slowing down however. Was your end goal a reflection of this perceived competition?

That was definitely a part of it. We noticed an over-saturation of like campaigns and figured that $2000 was completely achievable and might not look as daunting to the people we were hoping would help fund the release.

Needless to say that with only $2000, you won’t be ordering in caviar and escargots every day while in the studio…

Actually the studio we are working at is built on an old snail farm, so you could say we got lucky with that. $2000 doesn’t cover all of the expenses by a long shot, but it could definitely help. We have been lucky enough to be able to take our time making this record without focusing too much on hourly costs. We have all been a part of projects in the past where we had a very limited budget and everything felt rushed and stressful and, in the end, we couldn’t really achieve everything we set out to do.

How is trying to “break” Toronto as a band? Is it as daunting of a prospect as some would expect it to be?

It is a challenge to get people’s attention when there really is so much happening in the city. It feels as though we are constantly competing with other events, however it is also really amazing and refreshing because there is so much good music. It can be daunting yet we have never really ever felt as though we are all alone. Despite the real or perceived competition, there are also little communities that support each other. - Music Nerd

It was an unexpected surprise walking into the Velvet Underground and seeing the fairly large venue with a sizable audience filling its wings. Century Thief was onstage already and the crowd was rocking out to their huge sound. I’ve always believed that if you have great core songwriting and musicians you can add more to the mix and they’ve done it. Cellist Steve La adds way more personality to the stage performance than you’d expect while mulch-instrumentalist Kathryn Kearns holds sway with her gorgeous vocals, piano, and other additions not often associated with a mostly rock oriented band.
They exhibit great ability to change the pace of their set and their music. They’d be considered indie by most but their style is far wider and to peg it down to specific genres would be a disservice to the massive thought process that’s obviously gone into writing and crafting each song. Their harmonious nature is achieved through diverse vocals, each member short of Trumpeter Adam Reid had a vocal mic, and simply well crafted songs. Century Thief is the type of band that might not immediately find itself on repeat but with every listen there are new and exciting possibilities to explore. - Wordbirdbinder.com

Reverie is het debuutalbum van het indie folk / rock collectief Century Thief uit Toronto. Wat opvalt aan het album van de band is vooral de inventiviteit en creativiteit die we terughoren in de onderwerpen en de muziek. Met drie songwriters en diverse ondersteunende instrumenten ligt de nadruk op de songteksten. Maar ook in het instrumentale, heeft de band met unieke instrumentatie gelaagde soundscapes veel te bieden.
Op de dertien nummers op het ruim 50 minuten durende album horen we de band verhalen over onderwerpen als verveling , ongemakkelijke confrontaties , liefde en het leven van alle dag.
Met ' Reverie ' laat de band horen een grote muzikale toekomst tegemoet te gaan. Century Thief heeft wat mij betreft haar visitekaartje afgegeven. - Rudolfs Music

Happy Friday……We’ve made it! Today’s band is Bury the Hatchet. This Toronto ensemble translates tales through warm and wordy, infectiously honest melodies spoken by a wide array of instruments such as cello, guitar, clarinet, flute, and keyboard. Poetic and powerfully driven, Bury the Hatchet is a band deserving of an entire long weekend’s worth of listening. Enjoy! - Progressive Bloggers

Century Thief will follow up 2015's Reverie with a sophomore full-length in 2018, but before full album details arrive, the band have teased us with another single.

"Science of Solace" will appear on the upcoming LP, along with previously shared single "You Are Here." Both tracks were recorded at a farmhouse in Madoc, ON, a few hours north of Toronto.

According to the band, the latest song is about "waking up submerged in a lake and deciding whether to return to the surface, to grow some gills and start a new life, or just sink into the next world."

The existential narrative is matched with upbeat indie rock instrumentation, buoyed with brass and woodwind flourishes and echoing layers of vocal harmonies.

Century Thief will be playing the new tune at their upcoming Toronto show at the Rivoli on October 24. Right now, though, give "Science of Solace" a listen in the player below. - Exclaim!