No Kids - Come Into My House

Vancouver trio No Kids don't like to over-complicate things. Their debut LP Come Into My House is characterised by syncopated rhythms and sparse instrumentation, with no more than three or four layers daring to infringe at any one time. Opener Great Escape swaps violins out for short bursts from mechanical drummermen, who are themselves then swapped out for a horn section to take centre stage, and so on. For Halloween has a stronger beat, reminding of the spare, frill-less Junior Boys, but by their careful economy No Kids create space and facilitate focus towards the touches of elegance on what might otherwise be considered a robotic record: the crying harmonica on Bluster In The Air; the climbing horn motif on You Look Good To Me; the piano that introduces the very first song. But these moments of teasing warmth out of minimal textures are a little too rare on a record that suffers from short stretches of listlessness. [Ally Brown]