Funny how some sensations are so close to their polar opposites: laughter is only a tear-smeared face away from crying; any crudely hacked-together Twilight S&M FanFic will reveal in graphic and ponderous detail how close pleasure is to pain.

Music is not exempt: the most dizzyingly euphoric House music is one wrong note away from the world’s most tediously repetitive waste of vinyl; Jet had all of the Stones‘ sounds, but without any of their qualities whatsoever.

Opposite Sex‘s La Rat is a sonic splat: the song lands noisily, wet and unexpected. The song ticks two boxes – pleasure and unease.

It’s an unerringly comforting/uncomfortable song: everything about it that endears – the chiming guitar fuzz, the yelpy, happy vocals, the splashy drums – also seem so ragged and on-the-edge that they become curiously itchy and creepy.

This, all within the simple template of a guitar pop song. So when morons like me speculate that guitar music has run out of ideas/feeling/relevance, point them in the direction of Opposite Sex. Nice.

NB: Opposite Sex is a great band name. Kudos.

MORE: oppositesex.bandcamp.com