London, UK · post-punk · slacker rock

Bar Italia

3 festivals played ↓

London's elusive trio — murmured vocals and tangled guitars that made Matador come calling, with a mystique maintained by saying almost nothing in public.

Bar Italia are a London trio formed around 2019 by Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton, with all three sharing writing and vocal duties. Their early records appeared through Dean Blunt's World Music label before they signed to Matador, and the shift brought wider attention to music that had circulated largely by word of mouth.

The sound draws on 1990s indie and post-punk: dry, interlocking guitar lines, unfussy rhythm playing, and vocals that are often half-spoken or layered low in the mix. Songs tend to be short and loosely finished-sounding, with hooks emerging out of repetition rather than choruses. The three voices trading off, sometimes within a single track, is one of the group's most recognisable traits.

post-punkslacker rock