Arriving largely unnoticed in 2002,
Company of Strangers turns out to be a bit of a pivotal moment for
Colin Hay, albeit something of a minor one. At this time, he had yet to become a regular on L.A.’s Largo-based singer/songwriter scene and was still struggling to shake off the stigma of being a new wave relic. While he was struggling to hit upon the right image, he had found the right sound, creating nicely crafted mature music that swayed between sunbleached strummed acoustics and clever little pop numbers. While some of the production here is a little bigger than the songs call for -- most notable on the gilded surface of the opener “I Got Woken Up” and the lite loops underpinning “Beautiful World” -- the overall vibe is relaxed and friendly, in debt to
Hay’s charm but not relying on it, because the songs are sturdy enough to stand on their own. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine