Opus Kink - '1 - 18'
"OPUS KINK and '1:18' - Spooky, Senile and Raucous Cacophony
Emerging earlier this year with their furious and tribal 'Dust', a track dense with the danceable, energetic fury steadily becoming synonymous with their manic sonic capabilities, Opus Kink's most recent single '1:18' sees the outfit further expand their ferocious brand of post-punk with traversals into moodier, melody driven territories. There's some welcome experimentation the outfit has invited into their sound. All the unique components of an Opus Kink track are still there: angular guitars, ridiculously manic brass section, driving drums, and the frontman's blistering vocals, yet there seems to me a more considered approach to melody and sonic texture, and a welcome dialling to eleven of noise and cacophony.
The track opens with a hypnotic, rotating synth melody, which anchors the whole track to the ground. It's arguably the moodiest introduction to an Opus Kink track thus far, standing in a fair contrast to their earlier efforts. Didgeridoo-esque synth snakes around and behind the prominent synth melody, dousing the intro in a heavy sinisterness. The frontman's part spoken/part sung/part howled vocals emerge soon after, driving the song into a furious tempo. The drums emerge suddenly, heralding the actual song tempo. It's fast and loud, in direct contrast to the moodier synths, and we're only in intro territory here.
It's only when the first verse swings at you that you hear a melding of the disparate sounds. The main synth line remains sinister (in fact, it's present nearly the entire track), but the drums syncopate and groove around it, turning the whole track into a spooky post-punk dance affair. All the while there's driven guitar delivering the melody of the brass section soon to enter in the pre-chorus, and the frontman's snarling, preacher-from-a-demented-altar vocals seethes away at an indifferent, ignorant world.
There's a density to this track that makes it altogether different from earlier Opus Kink efforts. The sure surprise of this track after 'Dust', which I wagered as something of an interim track between 'Till The Stream Runs Dry' and the future Opus Kink sound we can only speculate over, was somewhat well founded. There were hints of an emerging sound in 'Dust' (especially noticeable in the middle-eight), but the essence of their first EP seemed to capture the track. If '1:18' indicates anything of Opus Kink, it's their continuation of the chaotic sound expanding music circles are beginning to appreciate them for, and their willingness to experiment with sound going forward."
Words by Harry Meenagh
