O Children (facebook/twitter) are named after a Nick Cave song, this London four-piece conjure up a range of influences and styles. Fortunately, they pay homage, and expand on the sounds that inspire them here. More obvious comparisons would draw Joy Division and Echo And The Bunnymen, and they get that a lot. 2010’s self-titled debut proved to have real character once people looked past the simple and lazy journalistic
tags of “bleak” and “dark”.
Apnea stories the personal struggle and legal battles of gentle giant (and frontman) Tobi O’Kandi. In a dastardly stroke of luck, he was threatened with deportation to Nigeria during its creation and developed the sleeping condition (Apnea…) due to stress. As a result, this record is much more focussed than its predecessor. I
Know (You Love Me) is a witty and effortlessly catchy break-up tune, while the sky-rocketing synths of standout tune H8 City will have the song, and O Children cemented in your mind for months to come.
This is an (obviously) personal record for O’Kandi and the Children, who have stopped celebrating their influences quite so obviously in favour of developing their own evocative sound. Good on you, lads.
