Many bands say their music speaks for them. Bar Italia’s actually does.
Formed in 2020 by Nina Cristante, Sam Fenton and Jezmi Tarik Fehmi, the London-based trio swiftly mesmerized listeners with their debut album Quarrel. The band talked in woozy guitar riffs, languid yet effective percussion and haunting overlapping vocals. Their songcraft echoes ‘90s alt bedroom rock tinged with lo-fi shoegaze—put together by detuned guitars and an overarching sense of melancholy.
During their first few years, that’s how Bar Italia actually preferred to communicate. They turned away interview requests and refused to disclose their names and what they looked like, to keep fans focused on their music. Today, on a two-month U.S. tour for their latest album The Twits—stopping at Area15’s the Wall venue on its final leg—the band is feeling just a little bit chatty, calling the Weekly from a soundcheck in Asheville, North Carolina. Today’s topic: The extreme lengths that fans will sometimes go to pledge their allegiance to an artist, like getting a representative tattoo.
“It’s always a risk when you get a band tattoo, because you don’t know if that’s a phase or if you’re going to be into them 10 years later,” says Fenton.
“I saw a picture the other day of someone with a Lostprophets tattoo,” adds Fehmi with a laugh, as the group audibly cringed.
The message is clear: Let’s keep talking about the music. It’s easy to do, because their stuff is great. “Skylinny,” from their debut, is a standout. Recorded amidst a global pause, the track’s moody yet straightforward composition resonates in a hurry, just under 1 minute and 30 seconds. It hammers home the band’s longing to run away—an especially relatable sentiment during that time.
A highlight from their first Matador Records release—2023’s Tracey Denim—“Punkt” sounds like it came straight from the basement of an experimental ‘80s indie rocker. With its murmured vocals from all three members and jangly guitars, it deceives first-time listeners into believing that’s all they’re capable of. But “Real House Wibes (desperate house vibes),” from The Twits, will destroy that assumption. It sounds like someone put a distorting layer of fuzz over an early Cure song. Even if the natural reaction would be to stand cross-armed and stoned faced while mentally deconstructing the tune, you’ll eventually break into sway.
Bar Italia doesn’t quite know what to make of Vegas before their first-time visit. Cristante only knows it as a place “where you get married.” But they look forward to getting a little taste of home while they’re here.
“We’re staying at the Excalibur Hotel ... and that’s a place that is in English folklore,” Fenton says. “We’re really excited.”
BAR ITALIA April 16, 7 p.m., $23, the Wall at Area15, area15.com.
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