O Children has very much been the name on every Goth’s lips of late, well those who are not totally stuck in the 80s at least. I’m quite sure this is the first album which I have reviewed this year that I have purchased myself – yes, we don’t get everything for free and given that I had been really impressed with the three or four tracks I heard on the band MySpace I had no qualms with parting with £6.99 for the album. Gotta do my bit for the economy somehow, you know? Well I certainly wasn’t disappointed and thought it would be rude not to write a review having enjoyed it a great deal and given that things are relatively quiet.
The danger when an album is so hyped up is that it doesn’t always live up to expectations. There’s been one hell of a buzz about this band, and knowing the way the industry works one has to ask if not for the rather obvious novelty of having an Afro-Caribbean singer, would the fuss have been so great? The fact is that Tobi O’ Kandi has a fantastic voice and it somehow doesn’t look like his own when he sings, and this does help to make them very marketable. Like it or not, image is important and without the right marketing campaign the music, no matter how good or bad it is, will not get heard. But then, when you put this album in the stereo all such concerns disappear and all that matters from here on in is the music, and it really is something quite special.
Opening with an incredibly subtle acoustic intro passage, ‘Malo’ does a fine job of luring you in from the word go and builds itself up gradually to a powerful chorus that will end up stuck in your head for days if you’re anything like me. ‘Dead Disco Dancer’ is no less infectious with a delectably dark, highly danceable beat that could easily drag the dead up on the dancefloor. The bassline really booms out beneath the surface while the keyboards have an almost funereal sound to them. At one point there’s a drum beat that really has me thinking of a recent track by Mr. Manson, but the general feel of the album is very much of the old school persuasion and the post-punk influence really comes out on numbers such as ‘Fault Line’ and especially ‘Radio Waves,’ which plods along at a steady pace with a firm drum while the guitar has a real moody twang in places. There’s some nice atmospheric sounds swishing about between the radio waves and as the track progresses it is suddenly interpolated by a wild and crazy saxophone that jazzes things up before kind of breaking down with a stuck record FM/A-A-A-AM.
The baritone vocals of Tobi O’Kandi have the smooth, seductive feel of Nick Cave mixed with the perpetual melancholy of Ian Curtis, sounding especially alluring on the stunning chorus of ‘Ezekiel’s Son’ when juxtaposed with accompanying female vocals. Sisters comes to mind on this one, and there’s a real sense of desolation to be heard in this track. ‘Smile’ has a really dreamy quality to it with lazy high-pitched guitars and a sloth-like pace. O’Kandi’s lugubrious tones set things up during the verse while the chorus brings into play some really enchanting female vocals which lend such an incredibly dejected sense of reflection and almost child-like beauty. This is perhaps the most haunting number on the record. Overall this is an excellent record and one that is definitely worthy of all the praise it has been getting. I shall be keeping an eye out for any live performances by them in the future.
http://www.myspace.com/ochildren
