Opus Kink releases new album "The Sweet Goodbye"

Opus Kink released their debut album, The Sweet Goodbye, via So Recordings on August 6. The Brighton sextet builds the record on a whirlpool of influences rather than a single sound, working, as Under the Radar's review put it, in the same spirit as cult favorites Fat White Family. Opener "Come Over, Do Me Wrong" leads with horns to set what the review called a slinky, unsettled tone before the record moves through oddly catchy cadences and bursts of tight instrumental riffing.

The album's range shows up track to track. "Crucify!" pairs gritty electro grooves with spaghetti western guitar chords, while "Will It Come For You?" was described as sounding like a blend of Viagra Boys and Cage the Elephant. Elsewhere, "I'm a Pretty Showboy" and "I Have to Shine My Sunday Shoes" take a more comic, pub rock approach with sing along hooks, drawing a comparison to Big Audio Dynamite's pop pastiche. The murder ballad "The Head Tree" brings in guest vocals from fellow Brighton act The New Eves for one of the record's more theatrical turns.

The Sweet Goodbye arrives from the same Brighton DIY scene that has also produced Lonnie Gunn's new EP this week, a scene small enough that its bands keep turning up on each other's bills and in each other's credits. Under the Radar's review called the record a deliberately messy, fiercely idiosyncratic debut, one that balances raw punk swagger against pop smarts even when it flirts with sensory overload, and rated it 8 out of 10.

The album joins a busy week of new indie and rock releases tracked on the release calendar, with Opus Kink's genre blending outlook putting them alongside the indie and rock scenes they draw from.

Under the Radar's review leaned into the album's difficulty as a feature rather than a flaw: "The debut album from these Brighton, England DIY rockers is not easy listening, but I guess that's the point," critic Matt the Raven wrote, praising its "bold percussive textures" and "bursts of energetic and tight instrumental riffs" even as the record "occasionally flirts with sensory overload."