When one thinks of "couple bands",the popular ones come to mind: "Sonny and Cher and Abba," says Sylvie Smith, one half of Guelph-based duo, Habitat. "Obviously if we're a couple and we're writing songs together and performing in coordinated outfits, there is a lot of opportunity to lapse into cutesy love songs. I think we do ok at avoiding the cheese while not tiptoeing around the fact that we're together."

John O'Regan and Sylvie Smith formed Habitat just shy of a year ago for a friend's Christmas concert. "We wrote all the songs in two weeks," O'Regan explains, "It's kind of funny, but we had never actually played music together before that, even though we had both been in bands and we'd been together for over a year." The songs are chock full of Casio beats, plunky keyboards and rhythmic guitar, all wrapped up nicely by Smith's warm voice and O'Regan's lovely call-and-answer singing. Picture Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harris and a big warm hug harmonizing at 20 years old.

When asked what inspired Habitat, the two are on the same page (and so wonderfully frank about it). "I guess just the enjoyment of writing and playing fun songs together. The fact that we are a couple is certainly a big part of it, I don't think the band would be at all the same [if we were just friends]," Smith explains. "Definitely, just the nature of the band is an inspiration in that we are a couple making music together," O'Regan says, "although we're always careful not to get too cheesy about it." How can two people possibly deal with living together, dating and being in a band together? "[Overall] it's pretty fantastic,'? says Smith. 'œSometimes we get on each others' nerves, but we're getting pretty good at learning how to read the other person and how to not kill each other. The great thing about it is we can theoretically practice and write whenever we want; we're on a pretty similar page when it comes to songwriting for Habitat, so it's not too tough to collaborate."

After a six-month hiatus during which Smith was in Finland for a semester of school, Habitat are back and ready to go. Getting back into the swing of things with some shows around Guelph, the duo is all practiced and ready. Since Smith's return, they are both "really excited to come to Toronto and do a show for Wavelength," John enthuses. "Hopefully we'll make some new friends in Toronto, too!"

By Kat Burns