When keyboardist Robert Jan Stips left the Nits after the tour for their brilliant Da Da Da album, he took with him new bassist Martin Bakker, while fifth member Peter Meuris drifted away as well. The duo of original members Henk Hofstede (vocals/guitar/keyboards) and Rob Kloet (percussion) went back to work at the band's Werf studios and recorded this stripped-down album that once again sends the band's music to a different level, embracing elements of world music and rhythmic experimentation. Stips' masterful keyboard work is missing, and the songs suffer from the lack of his brilliant aural arrangements. Hofstede and Kloet certainly make the best of what they've got, and the album is certainly not a disappointment -- at first. Using keyboards, percussion, samples, and plenty of vocal overdubs, the Nits create a musical world that is uniquely their own. "Robinson" revisits the same character from Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" (i.e., the older seductress in the film The Graduate). "Sister Rosa" and "Three Sisters" are odd choices for singles, but they sink under your skin after a few listens (a Nits trademark). "The Changing Room" is soft, moody, and haunting. "Rainfallagain" should have been a single, but remains a great lost album track that needs to be heard. If the album had only ten tracks, then it would be advisable for you to grab this right away. Unfortunately, there are three more songs (tracks 11-13) that are disposable at best. Certainly not the band's best album, but even a mediocre Nits album beats almost anything else, hands down.
© Steve Schnee /TiVo