The Hands That Thieve
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| The Hands That Thieve | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 30, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2012–2013 | |||
| Genre | Ska punk, punk rock | |||
| Length | 50:04 | |||
| Label | Pentimento, Victory | |||
| Streetlight Manifesto chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Hands That Thieve | ||||
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The Hands That Thieve is the fifth studio album by the American ska-punk band Streetlight Manifesto. It was their first studio album since 2010's 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1, and their first album of original material since 2007's Somewhere in the Between. In addition to the Streetlight album, an acoustic version of the album (titled The Hand That Thieves) was intended to be released by Toh Kay, but was cancelled.[1] The album was originally set to be released in the summer of 2012, but was pushed back several times due to label problems and rewrites, to its eventual release date of April 30, 2013.[2][3] The album has received generally favorable critical response.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 77/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [5] |
| Punknews.org | [6] |
| Popmatters | 7/10[7] |
| Alternative Press | [8] |
| Sputnikmusic | 4.2/5[9] |
The band completed the album in mid-January,[10] and it was announced on February 15 that the album would be finally released on April 30.[11][12] The band also planned to produce a live EP to compensate for the various delays, which the band claimed would be "an exclusive RISC Store gift and...the only professional live Streetlight Manifesto recording to date."[10] On April 1, the band released the first full song from the album "The Three of Us". On April 19 the album was leaked on many sites.[13] On April 30, the album was released as planned, but due to conflicts with Victory Records, the band was prevented from releasing the album and fulfilling preorders from their own website.[3] There were also claims that the live EP was canceled due to legal issues. [citation needed]
In May 2014, fans who originally preordered the album through the RISC Store received a "mystery gift" in lieu of the actual album, due to Victory Records not releasing any physical copies to the band. Fans received a white Digipak with a photograph of an orange tabby cat on its front cover and booklet cover, with no text or identifiers other than the track listing on the back cover. The booklet contains the lyrics to all ten songs, photographs of the band, and Aesop's Fable The Dog and the Wolf on its final page. The Digipak contained a blank CD-R with nondescript artwork of a barren tree, with the band stating on their Facebook page:
"You can use the blank cd to store your digital files, as a coaster, or even to burn your favorite songs. Any songs you want to put on it, you can put on it. You can put any amount of songs on it, as long as that amount will fit on a standard CD-R. You can burn 2 songs, 30 songs or even 10 songs, it's up to you. You can find music to burn onto the cd on the internet, or even ask fellow fans of bands you like to share their favorite songs so you can burn them, as long as you do so legally, or whatever. Then when you're done burning the cd (it takes a few minutes, but it's really quite simple to do), you can put the cd on your shelf, in your car, wherever. There are no words on the cd (besides the poems), no bar codes, no logos, no mean-hearted little dogs, nothing. It's just a blank cd that we're providing for you, along with a booklet of poetry and photography."[14]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tomas Kalnoky.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Three of Us" | 5:18 |
| 2. | "Ungrateful" | 4:31 |
| 3. | "The Littlest Things" | 4:50 |
| 4. | "The Hands That Thieve" | 5:40 |
| 5. | "With Any Sort of Certainty" | 6:10 |
| 6. | "If Only for Memories" | 5:28 |
| 7. | "They Broke Him Down" | 5:20 |
| 8. | "Toe to Toe" | 4:22 |
| 9. | "Oh Me, Oh My" | 3:45 |
| 10. | "Your Day Will Come" | 4:44 |
| Total length: | 50:04 | |
Personnel
Streetlight Manifesto
- Mike Brown – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, backing vocals
- Jim Conti – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, backing vocals
- Tomas Kalnoky – vocals, guitar, songwriting, photography
- Pete McCullough – double bass, bass guitar, backing vocals
- Nadav Nirenberg – trombone, backing vocals
- Matt Stewart – trumpet, backing vocals
- Chris Thatcher – drums
Additional personnel
- Mac Miller – gang vocals
- Reade Wolcott – gang vocals
- Brendt Rioux – gang vocals
- Kevin Silva – gang vocals
- Kasey Clark – gang vocals
- Matt Medina – gang vocals
- Kyle Clark – gang vocals
- Peggy Burrows – gang vocals
- Demian Arriaga – percussion
- Phred Brown – keys
- James Whitten – recording engineer
- Matt Messenger – mixing
- Alan Douches – mastering
Charts
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[15] | 21 |
| US Billboard 200[16] | 95 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[17] | 21 |
| US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[18] | 19 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[19] | 26 |
