Goth Reviews: O.Children

       I'm starting a new series on my vlog called Goth Reviews. In it I am going to review goth and otherwise dark media from a goth perspective. Some of it will definitely be goth, while other things will simply be pieces of media that I feel would appeal to a goth audience.

       I'm planning to focus mainly on small artists or things that are fairly unknown. As the series gets bigger I may occasionally go over more well-known things, especially if they have remarkably good representation or I am just really enthusiastic about them.

       Anyway, in my first video for the series, which you can watch above, I talk about the UK-based band O.Children. O.Children is a modern band with a very traditional goth sound. Recently I have seen a lot of discussion over whether or not traditional gothic rock and post-punk music is dying out. Finding this modern rendition of old school sounds was both tickling and encouraging.

       O.Children is fronted by Tobias O'Kandi. He has a magnificent voice, is far taller than everyone else in the band, and is also black. I wish that wasn't so uncommon in the goth scene, but unfortunately it is. With the utter lack of POC representation in the goth community, finding a goth band that is fronted by a black man was absolutely thrilling. As I say in my vlog, representation is vital to feeling accepted within a scene. If you never see people like you in the community it can be really difficult to feel like you belong. Because of that it is really important to bring attention to the POC artists in our community.

       Currently O.Children has two albums released: the self titled O.Children (2010) and Apnea (2012). I haven't been able to find any information about the group that is newer than 2012 so I am not sure if they are still together or if there are any plans to release more music.

       This group has a number of interesting stories. O.Children grew out of the band Bono Must Die after they were forced to change their controversial name. Between the release of O.Children and the completion of Apnea, Tobias O'Kandi also faced a number of legal problems which lead, surprisingly, to Apnea being a far cheerier album that O.Children was.

       I look forward to reviewing more goth-friendly media. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment here or on the related YouTube video.