Neuf Volts – Demo 2021

Coming out of the French DIY punk scene, Neuf Volts formed in the city of Tours during the pandemic and released their demo tape one year ago. With a strong female presence their thumping hardcore punk sound steers away from the tough-guy mentality to present a hefty bunch of emotionally charged songs on their 2021 debut.

The demo consists of eight tracks, or something like seventeen minutes if you wish, of mid-tempo, ‘80s inspired hardcore punk. Neuf Volts’ sound is characterized by guitar-driven tunes that may remind you of bands like Circle Jerks, Zero Boys, and The Dicks. The vocals of singer Béatrice are really interesting with their high-pitched registers not unlike Amyl and the Sniffers.

Right off the bat, Neuf Volts start the record with “They Don’t Know”, a song about the French government’s response to Covid-19 and how politicians are more concerned of their reelection than saving people’s lives. The band still have a lot to say about the state of the world since their formation, with the second track “I Can’t Breathe” clearly inspired by the police murder of George Floyd in the United States. While the self-titled track “Neuf Volts” is about the togetherness of these four people playing in a punk band, the rest of the songs meander between the pandemic-induced feelings of isolation and sorrow (“Nightmare”, “Tristesse”) and a more positive outlook to the world (“Light”, “Dreamer”). The closing track “Super Skate” is a really interesting cover version of Franco-Israeli pop singer Rika Zaraï’s song about skateboarding. The original song was written back in 1978!

What I love about Neuf Volts is how they keep the hardcore punk anger and intensity all throughout their songs, without being super distorted, aggressive or repeating the same old formulas as so many bands reviewed on this site. Interesting lyrics, and most notably killer high-pitched vocals, Neuf Volts demo was a nice little addition to my tape collection.