Band chemistry is a strange, undefinable, intangible thing, but when it’s there, it’s undeniable. And it’s undeniable that new duo The Exact Opposite have it in spades. That much is clear from the first listen of their debut album, Skill Issue, and only becomes more apparent the more you listen to it. It’s truly a magnificent and brilliant piece of art, no exaggeration. From the moment it kicks off with Look At Him Go! – which opens the record in a flurry of angular, crunching riffs and a very real and raw sense of urgency – all the way through to final track Why Are You Back Again?, it’s a record that fizzes and fizzles with a very tangible chemistry.

Jamie Stuart (guitars / vocals) and Nigel Powell (drums / everything else) already knew they had chemistry from their time together in Oxford’s Dive Dive, which they’d formed in 2001 after their other bands – Unbelievable Truth and Dustball, respectively – broke up. That said, like all of us, they’re different people 20-plus years later. Not only that, but Powell and the other two members of Dive Dive ended up playing full-time as Frank Turner’s backing band, The Sleeping Souls, from 2006 until 2020, making Dive Dive records and tours necessarily sparse. This meant that chemistry continuing into the pair’s new outfit wasn’t necessarily guaranteed. That said, neither were particularly surprised to find it was still there in full force when they started making this record, feeding their defiant desire.

That defiance and determination manifests in every song on this album. Recorded in Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead’s home studio in Oxford over the course of a month, Skill Issue was produced, engineered and mixed entirely by Powell (“Jamie brings the Burt Bacharach,” he quips, “I bring the Trevor Horn.”) and both recalls and builds on the pair’s impressive musical heritage, while forging boldly forward into new territory, both lyrically and musically. Look At Him Go!’s story of the former hero who’s still fighting the good fight – actually the last song written for the album – is immediately followed by the pulsating tones of What We Do At Night, which implores ‘Don’t tell us how to live our lives’ over an electro-post-punk tune that’s dark and jaunty in equal measure. Elsewhere, You Made Us Proud is an exercise in snarling but nuanced indie-punk, forthcoming single FFS soars with an optimism despite the state of the world, and Battle For Progress shimmers and shivers with the kind of energy that bands half their age would (and do) struggle to muster.

Age Old Friends ruminates on the passing of time and life without going gentle into that good night, Word To The Wise is riddled with jittery, youthful energy while commenting on the drudgery of modern existence, and You Work For Us Now and Why Are You Back Again? end the record with a one-two double punch that truly showcases the deep and profound musically chemistry at the heart of this album and this band. That The Exact Opposite have made such a stirring, youthful record is proof not just that they could and can still do this despite their fears of growing older, but also that they absolutely should.

Mischa Pearlman, 2023

Singles:

You Work For Us Now https://youtu.be/A-g5CAqcqqI release date 22nd March

Look At Him Go! https://youtu.be/XHKgdbvBQjw release date 19th April

Live dates coming up:

April 19th The Apothecary Tap Banbury

May 10th The Jericho Tavern Oxford

May 11th Aces & Eights London

May 13th The Exchange Bristol

May 31st The Pump Trowbridge

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