Album Reviews
Movie Reviews
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Time Wasters
Contact Us

Family bands and three-pieces pack a powerful musical punch; Detroit-based brother band Schaeffer (a trio, no less) deliver a mighty musical blow with their first release, No Ordinary People, produced by Stephen Leiweke and mixed by Shane D. Wilson (Switchfoot, Owsley).

Lofty, genuine and uplifting, Schaeffer’s sparkling indie rock—in the audible company of Lovedrug, Dashboard Confessional and Anberlin—is the sun-soaked soundtrack of a cross-country road trip. The lyrics, which touch on very human concerns such as abuse, cutting, “virtual” lies and faith, unfold much like a casual car conversation might between close friends across the miles: “All those years spent to myself / I found solace in mediocrity…” (“Alive”). “Hollywood is wrong / I’ve known it all along…” (“Fall Apart”). “I see love as fading, but you say it is waiting somewhere out there…” (“Alright”). “Don’t try to be something you’re not / Or you’ll turn out just like the rest in this lot…” (“Try To Be”). “We are so much more than they say we are…” (“We Are”).

Schaeffer layers pleasing melodies on top of naked sincerity and spiritual stability to create a solid, inspired indie debut.

Greg Adams
03/19/06