Thieves Fiction - Modern Romance Villians

Thieves Fiction 

Modern Romance Villains
self-released; 2016

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
​

Thieves Fiction is a band from Wilmington, NC, that just began playing in late 2015. Somehow the band already released Modern Romance Villians. It contains the sound quality of a demo but does give you an idea of what the band is about. Apparently the album is about  living in the modern times of Internet bombardment, opinion news and how people are swayed into lifestyles. 

The band seems to take their songs’ subject matter pretty seriously for better or for worse. There isn’t much levity on the album between the hyperbolic vocal delivery and robotic sounding synths. I have no problem with this except the songs in a lo-fi format doesn’t always match the reverence behind it. 

The album opens up with “Just Another Day” which is one of the highlights on the album. It has one of the more catchy vocal melodies which is actually being sung. The grove is great as well except the drums sounded so thin. Low frequencies were needed on the bass drum.

“Living in The Machine” has a NIN type vibe revolving around electronic percussive and otherworldly type synths. Lyrically he paints ambiguous language which could be interpreted a million different ways. He sings, “Moving through the smoke and dark / Across a steel-grey cloud / Fills the eye, through the dust / The endless sand within the glass, / Instant good meets instant bad.”

The band has some minor success with “Turnstyle Villians” while “Reality T.V.” has a dissonant industrial sound over spoken word. “Think About This” contains more of a speaking/singing style that ranges from whispers to a low speaking voice. 

​Thieves Fiction may be on to something but still have their work cut out for them. As its best this music speaks out to the sixteen-year-old version of me that thought NIN were gods.

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