Neufundland

As if rock music could ever die. On their debut album, Neufundland take cues from recent punk records and their hometown’s pop soniverse. An innovation of the German-language rock formula.

Their album title is a declaration of war. “Wir werden niemals fertig sein”, “We will never have finished”, rock music will never die. As with last year’s Karies record, ambiguity plays its part in Neufundland’s music: the chorus of the title song goes “in the morning I’m a banker / in the evening I’m a punk”, but musically, it’s among the least “punk” of the twelve songs on the album.

Nevertheless, Neufundland have released a strong statement with their debut album. Germany’s punk scene has reached artistic maturity in the last several years, Stuttgart has become the third pole of interesting music besides Berlin and Cologne. The latter city, the band’s hometown, is renowned for acts like Roosevelt that vacillate between electro and pop.

Their hometown’s sounds have influenced Neufundland as much as the success of Die Nerven, as their version of rock includes a whole lot of synthesizers and the spaciousness of contemporary pop. While it sounds a bit kitsch at times, “Wir werden niemals fertig sein” innovates the German-language rock formula. It’s pop and punk without being pop punk, and some songs (“Alles was bleibt”, “Bis es stimmt”, “Trink aus”) genuinely amaze. (Philipp Fischer)

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Stream “Wir werden niemals fertig sein” on Spotify.

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