Bar Italia’s only goal is to stay one step ahead
21.12.2023 - 18:26
/ thefader.com
Bar Italia spent their first few years as a band quite literally defying identification. There were no names or photographs attached to the two albums they released on Dean Blunt’s World Music label. This only deepened the enigmatic qualities of a group putting out music indebted to the indie rock canon — The Cure, Slowdive, and Sonic Youth are clear influences — on a label more renowned for its experimental output.
It was a confusing introduction that raised many questions, chiefly who is making these fuzzy lovelorn guitar jams with interlocking boy-girl vocals? And, in the classic Blunt sense, were they just taking the piss? 2023 has provided many of the answers those early adopters were looking for. Bar Italia are Londoners Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton, plus Nina Cristante. The latter moved to the U.K.
from Rome in the mid-2000s and juggles her time in the band with work as a nutritionist and personal trainer. They began putting their faces in press shots as well as giving the occasional interview, something that helped them shift the “mysterious” tag they felt had begun to become a cliche. Bar Italia have released two albums this year, Tracey Denim and The Twits, pushing them far closer to a permanent fixture than some kind of riddle.
Read Next: The 50 best albums of 2023 This shift has been a quietly radical one for the trio, who now find themselves adapting to a dynamic that is increasingly impacted by outside voices. Speaking last month before a show in Zurich, part of a lengthy world tour that takes them across North America throughout December, Bar Italia are good company. They are quick to make jokes and have a clear sense of who they are as a band, even if wrestling control is a bigger task than it was
.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.