Deriving their name from the French of word for “track” while simultaneously being a bit of a punny joke based on the French word or voice — voix — and for 1981, a paradigm shifting year that saw massive technological and societal changes, the Paris-based electro pop/New Wave outfit Voie 81 prominently features three female vocalists hailing from Paris, Madrid, and Berlin, who sing unifying and socially conscious lyrics in German, English, Spanish and French. 

Their full-length debut, Ralentir, which translates into “slow down” in French finds the act further establishing a sound that’s heavily indebted to and influenced by the analog synth sounds of the 80s while thematically focusing on humans’ resistance to an unfair and unjust world — and the hope fora much better, fairer world.

Last year, I wrote about album track “Nirvana,” a euphoric track with an arena friendly hook and sultrily delivered French vocals that — to my ears — that reminded me a bit of early-to-mid 80s New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and even contemporaries like DBFC.

“1989,” Ralentir‘s latest track is centered around a relentless motorik groove, glistening synth arpeggios, angular guitars, thumping beats and brief bursts of industrial clang and clatter. The end result is a song that seems to mesh John Carpenter‘s retro-futuristic soundtracks with New Order. As the band explains “1989 is more than the last year of the 80s! It symbolizes a pivotal stage, when everything has accelerated : technological, climate and enormous geopolitical changes.”

Directed by the members of Voie 81 and Oculusprime.tv, the recently released video, which was also edited by Oculusprime.tv features stock footage of some of the world-changing technology and events that happened in 1989 from new video games, the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as young people partying and just enjoying life.