EP Review: NVS – Where Is She? EP

Hailing from South Wales, NVS (read: ‘envious’) release their self-released debut EP ‘Where Is She?’. “We’re trying to keep old school Punk alive,” says frontman Joe Mort. With a sound and aesthetic that harks back to the Mohican and leather n’ studs days, they’ve released a clutch of short, snappy singles – each with its own accompanying YouTube video – that are collected here.  All the tracks are already available to stream/download, with the exception of ‘Addicted’, which premieres today.

Opening up with the buzzbeat of the title track ‘Where Is She?’, the band’s agenda is clear.  The chords may be borrowed, and the vocal delivered through someone else’s snarled lip, but the energy and spirit and attitude of long-gone pioneering times is undeniable. ‘She Looks‘ follows. Again, it’s fuzzy and relentless: “She’s like a dream, put safety pins at her seams,” envisages Mort. At least lyrically, ‘Covid-19’ reminds us that we’re in 2020. Against a backdrop of slashed-at strings, there’s a gobby humour – “Someone scranned a fucking bat, what a stupid fucking twat,” – ringing through the almost nursery rhyme cadence. ‘I Wanna Lady’ fuses warped rock n’ roll riffs and adolescent anguish, straying just a little from the spiky template of the other tracks to allow a glimpse of wider influences to pierce through. Closer, and new track, ‘Addicted’ continues in a familiar vein –  sounding like a lost 70s contemporary – which illustrates the cohesiveness of the songs, and artistic adherence of the band to their favoured genre traits. “We don’t care!” It concludes, echoing the essence it seeks to honour.

Like punk that’s built around the snotty, disorderly, two-fingered essentials?  ‘Where Is She?’ is available on Bandcamp and Spotify. NVS have Facebook and Instagram pages to follow.