No Kids Come Into My House by: Alex De Petro Mon:24-Mar-08 Label: Tomlab Year: 2008 WB rating 70 out of 100

Subtle and multi-layered, Come Into my House is an interesting album chock-full of retro-references, successfully blending old and new in an expressive and intriguing manner.

Yet another excellent Canadian band, No Kids is made up of the core of fellow Indie-pop band p:ano and a host of various contributors from other Canadian groups of varying levels of anonymity. Genre means little on this album; self-described as just ‘Indie’, No Kids explore the alternative and arty sides of Slow Jamz R&B, cerebral pop and the emerging ‘Post-Folk’ genre. ‘The Beaches Are Closed’, its inventive picked strings hook and smooth-as-silk vocal licks an excellent foray into mainstream R&B, could easily be a Billboard Hottest 100 Hit if recorded by some of the likes of Prince, Craig David or Jamie Foxx.


The vast vocal range of singer/songwriter Nick Krgovich is impressive: ‘Great Escape’ has a somewhat childish yet moving quality, ‘Neighbour’s Party’ a somewhat more fervent feel, finished with a sassy flourish, while tracks such as ‘Listen For It/Courtyard Music’ and ‘For Halloween’ feature a take on the seemingly out of place black R&B vocal style mentioned before. This is added to the innovative instrumentation of multi-instrumentalists (seems like all Canadians play a dozen instruments these days) Julia Chirka and Justin Kellam. A variety of different sounds are used, including piano, horns, guitar, harp and xylophone. One weak point is the extreme overuse of artificially produced drum beats present on all twelve tracks; at first it’s just a niggling annoyance, but by the end of the album is extremely tired.

Tone and pace are important on Come Into My House, and they are regulated excellently, adding to the album’s success. Fast paced tracks such as ‘Listen For It/Courtyard Music’ are positioned in great contrast to ‘Dancing in the Stacks’, which adds to the pull of the album. However there is something flawed with the central concept of blending R&B with folk in this manner; after just a few such tracks it starts to become tired, and again the use of machined drum beats adds to this. There is a narrow appeal to to the style predominately found on Come Into My House and people will either like it or instantly dismiss it.

At its core Come Into My House is a throwback album, providing a modern outlook on genres and styles popular in the 1990s and developed beyond. This is representational of a variety of indie artists around at the moment, including Feu Therese and Kelley Stoltz to name a couple covered by Wireless Bollinger in the past few weeks who are utilising a high level of original retro-inspired music. The appeal of such a style might seem limited, yet for a lot of listeners this is a real turn on, as at times it can seem like listening to new music from old favourites.