Just as you should never judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a band by the amount of time they spend spouting rubbish on internet message boards, although there’s always a feeling that spending that time practising rather than bickering might be more productive.
Secret Rivals are particularly verbose in this department, but listening to these three songs, you start to understand why – even their music sounds like they’re having a furious argument. `Point Of Subtraction’ finds the boy-girl vocal pair tripping over each other to have the last word. He’s breathless and slightly effete; she’s strident and tends to squeal but it tends to work okay in a messy kind of way since Secret Rivals seem to be all about punk attitude over melody or musical proficiency. A simplistic Buzzcocks pop thrash fizzes beneath the duelling pair but maybe they should grab themselves a couple of Prolapse albums and see how a bit more space between the protagonists might actually accentuate the sense of chaos.
`Moscow’ sees Secret Rivals dip into prettier, poppier territory, singer Clouds taking sole vocal duties over that trademark guitar fizz. Unfortunately the mix means she’s barely audible, never mind decipherable and the overall effect is like the awkward, slightly wayward first offering from a lost 80s jangle band.
Back to the kinder-core scrapping for `Break Song’, which offers a better glimpse of what Secret Rivals are aiming for (ostensibly the first Sonic Youth album), but equally demonstrates how much they need to tidy up their act and expand their horizons if they want to get there. Still, enough promise from a band whose energy levels alone keep your attention from wandering.