This Train – Opus Kink

There’s a grubby groovey thing going on in indie rock in the UK at the moment. It’s as if The Blockheads children have all formed bands with the offspring of ex-members of The Fall and created a whole Diagon Alley Indie scene where Viagra Boys and Baxter Dury are holding court.

This Train bursts out of the void with massive drum fills and chanting before the horns and the urgent palpation inducing rhythm build and build for a couple of minutes to a hollerin’ and a hootin’ crecendo. That’s not the end of the song though. There’s a mellow (almost ‘delic) breakdown two thirds of the way through where the limitations of the vocalist are fully displayed. This is before a sort of melancholy jazz dirge pulls the whole operation down into the cold cold dirt. I’m all for it. This is an exciting and alluring record. It starts like it’s going to do some damage and ends limping back into it’s corner fucked up by it’s own exertions.

Opus Kinks previous single Mosquito and the A side for this track Wild Bill had caught my ear or squeezed their way into my peripheral vision before. They look exactly how they sound. Like Babyshambles getting pissed with The Pogues in a Mexican themed restaurant. Like Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros conjured up their own support band in a circle of salt intended for the rims of mojito glasses. Their urgent horny slightly untrust worthy take on indie rock feels the realest kind of basement club rock to come out of Brighton since Dream Wife screamed their way into my heart a couple of years back.

All of this is meant as massive compliments. This band are great.

Add these guys to a scene stalked by Another Sky, King Gizzard and The Lizzard Wizard, The Family Rain, Do Nothing and Chubby And The Gang and it all starts to look a delightfully grubby on the underbelly, sticky on the carpet and painted black in the bathroom. It also looks like I’m making these band names up. Not today!