Opus Kink

With their ever-mutating brand of jazz-and-country-laced punk, Opus Kink strike a singular figure in a saturated landscape. Making their name with incendiary, cult-like live shows, the band - formed in Brighton (UK) in 2017 - look far beyond the blueprint of 80s post-punk in developing their elusive sound, careening from tarantella (St Paul of The Tarantulas) to pounding death-disco (This Train) to music hall (Dust) to menacing, sluggish dirge (Malarkey). Underscored by their signature formidable horn section and ragged, sardonic delivery, the band bear passing resemblance to no-wave acts like The Pop Group, Birthday Party and Lounge Lizards, but it’s the weaving of older, more traditional influences - choral, folk, country, Latin, Weimar cabaret, cruise-ship-crooner - into the fabric of their music that sets them apart. Through their songs concerning violence, evil, shame, troubled sexual politics, anxiety and emptiness, all served with a wry absurdist bent, Opus Kink craft an alluring nether-world for their increasingly voracious audience to plunge into. Whether it’s performed in Serbian abattoirs, rousing festival crowds into shamanic frenzy or selling out iconic halls, their grotesque pop show leaves a scorch mark.