bar italia's reputation as willfully obscure enigmas seemed to have preceded them by the time they played Public Records on Saturday, the final show of the UK band's sold-out, five-night NYC blitzkrieg. The trio have been playing in near dark without saying a word or nary a smile to the audience the whole week, and halfway through Saturday night's show some in attendance seemed determined to make the band break, a la Buckingham Palace Guards. Someone started meowing and Nina Cristante started to smile, then Jezmi Fehmi (the most serious-seeming of the three) laughed but gained composure quickly. If Sam Fenton smiled or laughed, he did so with his back to the audience. The band still didn't say a word the whole night apart from a little "more in the monitor" tech talk to the sound person, but their music spoke plenty.
Fehmi, Cristante and Fenton have an interesting dynamic, with their songs playing out like an exquisite corpse exercise, usually an unchanging riff that the three take turns bringing their own melodies and vocals overtop. Backed by a supple rhythm section, live it plays out naturally, terrifically, on songs like "Punkt," "changer," and "Nurse!" -- all from bar italia's Matador debut, Tracey Denim, which made up most of their set -- that mixed early-'80s post-punk with '90s indie rock and just a whiff of trip-hop. They all have distinctive styles too, so often it's like you're getting three songs in one.
Public Records is tiny and, with no A/C on Saturday, the packed room was a little sauna-like but but the crowd was very into it, even singing along loudly at times which also made Cristante smile. For a band who can come off arrogant by their refusal to promote themselves, they seemed a little taken aback by their reception in front of a crowd that was by my count full of actual fans and not just industry folks looking to catch the latest UK buzz band. I'm a fan of the album but went in a little sceptical, and left impressed.
bar italia are in Los Angeles this week for a similar five-show run, and the band will be back at the end of the year, including another NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on December 4. Tickets are still available for that one.
Check out photos from bar italia's first NYC show:
"sold" - Google News
June 19, 2023 at 10:22PM
https://ift.tt/GQewh12
bar italia wrapped up their sold-out, 5-show NYC run @ Public Records (review) - Brooklyn Vegan
"sold" - Google News
https://ift.tt/KO1IvNH
https://ift.tt/Vt9Cf3d
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "bar italia wrapped up their sold-out 5-show NYC run @ Public Records (review) - Brooklyn Vegan"
Post a Comment