‘Everything I’ve Lost’ isn’t a phrase you’d associate with Secret Rivals at the moment. Amidst growing acclaim and talk of an album arriving early next year, they continue to provide a drip-feed of animated indie numbers that will ensure an enthusiastic reception to any future LP. This latest single, streaming now and available as a free download from Secret Rivals on 24 September, provides further evidence of a group losing nothing in their rise through the Oxford underground.

One of their greatest strengths is an ability to create vividly evocative tracks, dripping with the emotions they’re born of. The vocal partnership of Jamie Corcoran and Claudia Saez contributes most importantly to that here: “I’m not sure what it means anymore/I don’t dream anymore of us” sounds wrenched straight from Corcoran’s tortured breast, while the resolution in the duo’s matter-of-fact yell of “this has to stop!” bursts with all the explosive anguish of a relationship pushed to breaking point. It’s easy to assume that some intensely personal experiences make the delivery so successful – Corcoran and Saez are indeed partners – but even without such knowledge, the two deliver an utterly convincing three minutes of frayed nerves and lovers’ desperation.
As well as being a distinctive aspect themselves, the vocals are also a concentration of the single’s general mood. At once adorable and angry, it beguiles and bites in equal measure. A sweet, ascending synth line slides its way to the melodious heights, at odds with the ill-tempered guitar, thrashing around underneath it – a dynamic exactly mirrored in the paired-up lyric sections that pit Corcoran’s impassioned yells against Saez’s mellifluous tones. It’s a sound conjured through conflict and differences and, being so, amplifies the emotional unease at the heart of the song to a compelling degree.

Overall, it’s an ideal snapshot of a band who are, surely, on the verge of gaining an awful lot over the coming months; a growing fan base, a debut album (fingers crossed) and a burgeoning reputation for memorable live performances. If you haven’t heard them yet, make sure you check this latest single out before being there from the start is an opportunity you’ll have lost.