With the release of singles like “Pieces” and “House of Smith” which have amassed over 150,000 Spotify streams combined, the rising, Newcastle-based indie electro pop duo NOPRISM — Andrew Young and Mark Nelson — have quickly and firmly established a sound that’s indebted to mid-to-late 80s New Wave and house music. “Pieces” and “House of Smith” have received airplay on BBC Music Introducing and have been playlisted by XS Manchester’s Evening Show — and adding to a growing profile, “Happiness” was championed by Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon and featured on E4’s Made in Chelsea.

Continuing on the momentum of last year, the duo begin 2021 with “Pantherbeat,’ an arena friendly club banger, centered around aggressive synth arpeggios, punchy and thumping beats and a rousingly anthemic hook. Certainly, if you’re a child of the 80s, “Pantherbeat” will bring nostalgic longing for Dead or Alive, New Order, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, and others — but while possessing a slick, modern production.

“’Pantherbeat,’ is actually the first song written by the band when we first began writing last year, and now feels like the right time to release it,” NOPRISM’s Andrew Young explains in press notes. “It’s main lyric ‘You’ve gotta have faith’ sounds pretty apt right now, even though it wasn’t an intentional statement. It’s about the onset of a headrush… when the next high is about to kick in, or when the needle is about to drop on a big record. That brief moment of expectation and euphoria.”

Centered around gorgeous and cinematically shot black and white footage shot by Russian videographer Cottonbro, the recently released video for “Pantherbeat” follows a lean and tattooed boxer training for a big fight with a monastic-like dedication.In a surreal and feverish twist, the big fight turns into a pulsating night club — with the spectators, including bored family and friends dancing to the thumping banger while the two boxers fight. “We’ve used his [Cottonbro’s] footage for each release so far as it has a strange otherworldly feel to it, and we take multiple clips to piece together some kind of loose story which is told alongside the song. The videos have very much become part of the aesthetic of each release.”