Bar Italia
UK / indie rock / Matador Records
“Some Like It Hot” is a 1959 film starring Marilyn
Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon that chronicles the adventures of a
group of offbeat musicians. It is fun, sensual, unbridled and eternal.
“Some Like It Hot” is also the London trio’s new album bar italia,
and certain parallels are not coincidental. The album pulses with
romance, intrigue, self-discovery and sensual rapture among yearning
rock pieces, enchanted folk pop, stunned ballads and indefinable moments
that surprise you like a ray of sunshine at five in the afternoon. The
record represents the synthesis of the inner world shared by Nina
Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton-three songwriters who have
moved beyond their underground roots to embrace a bold and panoramic
horizon.
The evolution of their sound-from early home recordings as pencil
sketches (in 2023 the band even presented an exhibition of their
drawings) to the broad, bright brushstrokes of “Some Like It Hot”-has
been forged through a relentless pace of songwriting and touring. When
Bar Italia emerged from the underground in 2023 with two critically
acclaimed albums released within months of each other on Matador – the
measured “Tracey Denim” and the majestic “The Twits” – they were a shy
band, avoiding eye contact, starting sets in the dark and disappearing
backstage soon after. In the years since, they have crisscrossed the
globe, with headlining concerts from Istanbul to Tokyo, series of
sold-out dates in New York and Los Angeles, and appearances at festivals
such as Corona Capital, Glastonbury, and Coachella. With more than 160
concerts around the world between 2023 and 2024, they dispelled any aura
of mystery by transforming themselves into a muscular exhibitionist
quintet capable of delivering multiple encores-just as comfortable
inciting festival pogoing as in intimate moments.
“Some Like It Hot” chronicles this journey: a collection of rock songs that voraciously embrace the main stage.
The italia bars combined the seriousness and depth of their themes
with a taste for spectacle. These are songs that turn eccentricities
into great refrains, finding elevation in tension and playing with
identity, emotion, and performance to the point of blurring boundaries.
That 1959 Hollywood classic from which the album takes its name ends
with the famous line, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” This record, however,
comes pretty close.