Description

The parallels between the careers of XTC and the Nits are remarkable and too numerous to ignore. Both began their recording careers in the late ’70s as part of the arty post-punk new wave movement. And both evolved into something infinitely more complex and enduring, despite being gradually whittled down to a core of just two members. That said, whereas XTC underwent a gradual transition from the fractious pop of 1977’s White Music to the pastoral psychedelia of 1986’s Skylarking, the Nits shed their new wave skin in a relative trice with the 1983 album Omsk. But the Nits were already essentially Hofstede’s band, and Omsk contains one of his most enduring songs in the form of “Nescio”, which became one of their biggest hits.