Bar Italia – ‘The Twits’ album review: a drawling take on moodiness and mayhem
Despite having already released three albums, Bar Italia remain heralded as one of London’s most exciting new bands, a name that is repeatedly wheeled out whenever discussing fresh, heavily-hyped acts on the rise. Formed in 2020, the trio now release their fourth studio album, The Twits, unfalteringly sticking to their brand, but perhaps to their detriment this time out.
While certain details have evolved since their debut release – mostly the volume level and sheer scale their wall of noise can reach – a lot has stayed the same. The Twits leans further into guitar music, with tracks like the Limmy-nod ‘World’s Greatest Emoter’ and ‘Hi-fiver’ standing out as big, raucous indie songs that make sense of the live hype around the band.
Sure to go off in the small but densely packed rooms Bar Italia will tour later this month, The Twits feels like a record made with the intent of levelling-up and revitalise their live sets. That intention unfurls from track one as the band doesn’t waste a second. The opening number, ‘My Little Tony’, seems to almost drop you in mid-way through.
As with all of Bar Italia’s music, the band’s set-up adds layers of intrigue and texture as the members share vocal duties. It’s the varied vocals that let them stand out amongst their class of post-punk peers. However, on The Twits, there are moments where it lingers too long. The Nina Cristante-fronted song, ‘Shoo’, risks tipping into grating territory at the album’s midpoint as the nasal harmonies try and fail in an attempt to mimic PJ Harvey-like vocal experimentation.
Oscillating between two modes, The Twits is primarily interested in moodiness or mayhem, much like the Roald Dahl fictional couple with which the album shares its name. Tracks like ‘Real House Wibes (desperate house vibes)’ and ‘Que Surprise’ see the band step into prime gloominess with drawling vocals and instrumentation that merges classic indie with shoegaze laziness. For ardent followers of the Bar Italia, these triple-perspective mini-dramas, as the members take turns on the mic, are sure to please. But for outsiders looking to get their teeth into something new, the relentlessness of the instrumental and the downtrodden vocals might not spark enough intrigue to keep headphones on. In fact, there’s a messiness that might cause them to be whipped off.
However, in the second half of the record, things do offer a turn of pace. ‘Sounds Like You Had To Be There’ picks the energy up as one of the band’s most optimistic cuts to date. Wading further into the waters of classic indie with choppy chord changes and sweet melody. The band have always kept tight-lipped on their inspirations, maintaining a real mystery around the three-piece other than espousing that despite the band’s name, they “don’t like Pulp particularly”.
Detailing further, Bar Italia go on to explain that their writing process is difficult, telling The Guardian: “No one’s Ed Sheeran here, being like four chords, loop, done – it’s not that quick” – a track like ‘Sounds Like You Had To Be There’ is likely the closest the band will ever get to genuinely feel-good, accessible indie-rock as they favour more difficult compositions and marmite vocal arrangements.
‘Bibs’, as the album’s final track, once again pushes you in mid-song; there’s an overwhelming feeling that this is a record made for the band, not for us. Full of ghostly strange chords, flat vocals, and a rare instance where all three members sing off-key together – the listening experience doesn’t feel considered much beyond making an adventurous, noisy album.
It begs the question of what causes hype? What makes Bar Italia a one to watch in comparison to other bands on the scene? Is the credit amassed from their first records enough to sustain them? The answer is totally dependent on the taste of the listener, but The Twits feels like an album many people will say they like, but the question of whether it is actually good is a whole other story.
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