Singles

O.Children - Dead Disco Dancer

Matt Poacher 18/09/2009

Rating: 2/5

O.Children, named after a Nick Cave song on The Lyre of Orpeheus, are at the end of a particularly packed indie pop cul-de-sac - one that branches off from The Cure, Cave himself and more recently Interpol. 'Dead Disco Dancer' is their debut single. The band have certainly got the chops, and the look, it just feels and sounds terribly familiar. You know the drill by now: a tightrope-thin guitar line, a reverb-heavy haunted dancehall production, those '80s synths on the off beat, a series of pop memorabilia haircuts (Jim Reid, early Thom Yorke), maybe some joke shop makeup, throw in a series of adjectives - noir, new wave - and watch it fly out the door. Or not.

All that said in Tobi O'Kandi they do have a towering presence as a front man. Literally towering. At 6 foot 8 and with a voice that attacks you from the belly up, he's something to behold. Vocally he does come very close to Nick Cave at times, even Dave Vanian from The Damned, he has that same low-end vibrato; lyrically, there is a noir-ish tone to his tale of murder and deception ('don't you know? I guess you don't?'). He's the glue that holds the thing together and you get the distinct impression that without him the band wouldn't amount to very much at all. As it stands, there's probably something here to build on. Worth keeping an eye on? Possibly.

Release date: 15/09/2009