I wasn’t cool enough to know about bar italia when they first began releasing songs on World Music, Dean Blunt’s record label with a cult following, back in 2020. Although I had heard them mentioned online and amongst friends, my introduction to their discography was, like most, through their album Tracey Denim released back in May (I have since labeled the record my favorite album of the year). Reminiscent of 90s alt-rock and classic British groups like The Cure (a band they poke fun at with their song, Killer Instinct), the group wears their influences on their sleeves and blends them with experimental and modern techniques to create unconventional pop music. Now with two album releases under their belt on indie-rock super label Matador Records and over fifty live performances this year alone, the London-based trio are finally stepping into the well-earned limelight. Taking their act back to New York for the first time since the summer, bar italia played to a sold out crowd for their first of two shows in the city at Elsewhere on December 3rd.
Upon entering the venue, I ended up in a room half-filled with teenagers drenched in cherry-red light. As I found my place within the crowd, the first opening band, The Place, were one song into their set of droning guitars backed by a drum machine. With only two guitarists making up the entirety of the band, their performance was barebones and stripped down to the fullest. As unsearchable and unstreamable last-minute additions to the lineup, I couldn’t tell you much about the origins of the group or even the names of either member. On the left was a lanky man in a trendy-bad haircut and wrap-around glasses acting as both the lead guitarist and bass player at the push of an octave pedal. On the far right was a woman with perfectly messy bangs who acted as the rhythm section and occasionally punctured the wall of noise with her soft voice à la Bilinda Butcher. Although I enjoyed the overall sound of their music– an alluring mix of pop, shoegaze, and noise– it became hard to distinguish any differences between the songs in their set as it progressed. Seemingly trying to emulate the main act, The Place gave off a strong sense of mystery, perhaps in part because I’m still not convinced that they are a real band, but also because they never acknowledged that anyone was even watching them. They played quickly through all of their songs without pause and ended abruptly without a goodbye.
By now, the room had begun to fill out in time for Gobby, the New York based experimental trumpet player. Without any sort of formal entrance, he sat down on the elevated platform holding the drums, plugged in his laptop, and began to blow slowly into his instrument. His short performance consisted of long, dragging notes filtered through his computer to sound distorted and noisy. While the novelty of this was alluring for the first song or two, the lack of stage presence quickly wore down any interest I had. Without ever looking up, Gobby entered, played, and left without a word.
bar italia followed suit in a similar fashion, quietly shuffling their way on stage. From left to right evenly spread across the stage was Jezmi Tarik Fehmi on guitar, Nina Cristante in the middle with a tambourine in hand, and Sam Fenton on a second guitar. Behind the trio were their touring bassist and drummer. After a few moments of getting organized and placing down their setlists (which were written on small, palm-sized pieces of paper), the group suddenly broke out into their song “Polly Armour” with full force. An aspect of their music that makes them so special is the fact that in each song all three members play the role of a lead singer. Constantly switching between verses, I had to swing my head back and forth to catch all of it. Sam. Nina. Jezmi. Sam. Jezmi. Nina. It was hard to pick just one of them to look at– Nina with her swaying hips and gentle croon, Jezmi with his hardcore vocals and constantly swinging guitar, and Sam with his cool composure and perfect technique.
After “Polly Armour” their performance continued full steam ahead. Before each song, the group would congregate in the middle of the stage, often with Fehmi counting everyone in “1, 2, 3, 4…” Then they would play the song and do it all over again. Their setlist consisted almost entirely of tracks from their latest album The Twits, including songs like “my little tony”, “worlds greatest emoter”, “calm down with me”, “twist”, “glory hunter”, and “Real house wibes (desperate house vibes)”. I was not initially a fan of their latest effort, although I found their live performances were able to change my perspective on the record as a whole. Where the studio recordings at times felt a little awkward, when performing live, the group was able to fill in any gaps with just their stage presence and energy. In addition to The Twits, bar italia also performed “punkt”, “my kiss era”, and “Nurse!” from Tracey Denim. The group hardly interacted with the audience, save for Nina who blew a shy kiss after a slew of people in the crowd shouted “I love you!”
After finishing the show, they came back on stage for an encore of two songs. Before the last, Cristante, Fehmi, and Fenton stood in a circle in the center of the stage seemingly trying to figure out what to end it off with. After many shouts from the audience asking for “Missus Morality! skylinny! Friends!” the trio drove immediately into “rage quit” from their 2021 album bedhead. Fehmi and Fenton spoke soft thank you’s into the microphones and then they left as swiftly as they came.
Immediately upon exiting the premises I purchased a ticket to their show at Warsaw on March 15th of next year. I couldn’t get enough of their enigmatic performance. They’re one of few bands I could never get tired of watching. Whenever given the opportunity, I expect to find myself at many more bar italia shows to come.