The Brooklyn-based band Company evolved out of a miasma of folk, punk, and psychedelic elements in 2001, when its denizens haunted the legendary East Village bar Nine-C in an ongoing residency. Here Company made sounds removed from the contemporary musical main street that defied past categorization. “Folk rock is the label closest to Company’s sound, but their rock references are more Clash, Joy Division, and Meat Puppets than ’60s California,” Pat Sullivan wrote in Index magazine, attempting to sum it up. He added, “Company derive their musical muscle from the folk side of the formula. The best folk singers have the power to rivet a room’s attention on the cadences of a vocal inflection or the change of a single chord, and each member of Company has this power in spades.” With a seemingly conventional four-piece guitar rock lineup, Company can be found wandering and improvising through traditional and innovative musical styles, but they are always grounded and unified by the songwriter’s original vision. Company’s members–Adam Davison, David Janik, Christopher Teret and Stephanie Rabins–used these open-ended Nine-C shows like a workshop to develop rough sketches into masterful songs, playing to the audience’s mood as well as to their requests. Following the tragic closing of Nine-C in 2003, Company found another small stage to take on a weekly basis at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg. These pint-sized settings inform their sound, which is as intimate and homey as it is profound and even ominous at times. The results are songs that fill the room like intoxicated party conversation–loud and soft, wildly silly then suddenly private and sincere. In Time Out New York, Sara Marcus lauded, “the band’s phenomenal weekly concerts in that cozy back room showed a group of musicians who are deeply at ease with their sound…impressive performances from a generous, chilled-out band.” Staying true to the spirit of the band’s name, Company’s live shows are all about a community of friends and fans having a good old time together.Translating the experience to the album format has been a somewhat harrowing task. Parallel Time has been a long time coming. It is the fourth full-length recording by the prolific group, but the first available in wide release. Company found an ideal setting to immortalize its craft at Paul Oldham’s Rove Studio in rural Shelbyville, Kentucky. Rove doubles as Paul’s home and the relaxed efforts of the band are a testament to that; the hospitality the group enjoyed in the company of Paul, his wife Christa, and their magical dogs is evident in every stroke of this swimmingly painted portrait of the great big what-the-fuck. With Paul’s superb technical and artistic collaboration, Company spent a week molding the record between innings of Wiffle.
Other releases by Company
Old Baby
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