An ephemeral, swirling guitar-pop shudder, The latest single from London’s bar italia arrives with the announcement of their debut album, ‘Tracey Denim’, plus a headline at Village Underground.
Like car shadows contorting on the pavement as they roll through the sodium street lights, ‘punkt’, much like the band performing it, casts itself in obscure, winding enigmas. As a trio who disclose almost zero biographical information about themselves to the wider world, their music suitably inhabits an uneasy, gnawing tension, like a truth forever wafting out of reach.
While ‘punkt’ in particular recalls the likes of Pip Blom for it’s trebly guitar-chugging insistence, as the Pulp-referencing moniker suggests, bar italia function as a Zoomer’s ode to the 1990s – Britpop blackened by the existential threats of the modern age. Here, in some curious, ritualistic manner, each of our three members – Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton – take their own verse, about to issue some fiendish curse upon their enemies and upon the evils of the world. A bluster of angst, a force of shadows, bar italia are mongers of mystery, and damn catchy tunes, besides.
‘Tracey Denim’ is out on May 19th via Matador Records.
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