Bar Italia, stylized bar italia, are a British

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band formed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2019. The band consists of members Nina Cristante (vocals), Sam Fenton (vocals, guitar), and Jezmi Tarik Fehmi (vocals, guitar). Their name is derived from the

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

café

Bar Italia Bar Italia is an Italian café located on Frith Street in the Soho district of London. Location and notable events On 26 January 1926, John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television at 22 Frith Street, the building where ...

Biography

From 2020 onwards, the band released two albums, one EP and multiple singles through World Music, the record label founded by London musicians

Dean Blunt Roy Nnawuchi, better known by his pseudonym Dean Blunt, is a British singer-songwriter, musician and contemporary artist. He is best known for his current solo work as well as his previous work as part of avant-garde duo Hype Williams (along wi ...

and

Inga Copeland Alina Astrova, better known by the recording aliases Lolina and Inga Copeland, is an Estonian experimental musician and singer living in London. In addition to her solo work, she collaborated with British musician Dean Blunt on various releases, ...

. They were noted as a "new act to watch" by ''

The Face The face is a part of the body, the front of the head. Face may also refer to: Film * ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face'' * ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film * ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...

'' magazine and the number one "rising star to look out for in 2023" by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. Their 2022 EP ''CDR'' was placed at number one on ''

Gorilla vs. Bear ''Gorilla vs. Bear'' is an MP3 blog for independent music MP3s, videos, news, and reviews from all genres. It was created by Chris Cantalini in March 2005, and David Bartholow joined as a contributor in 2006. ''Gorilla vs. Bear'' regularly featur ...

''s list of the best EPs of 2022, and their track "Miracle Crush" was placed at number 13 on ''Crack'''s list of the 25 best songs of 2022. In March 2023, it was announced they had signed with Matador Records. They released '' Tracey Denim'' in May 2023, while their second album of the year, ''

The Twits ''The Twits'' is a humorous children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was written in 1979, and first published by Jonathan Cape in 1980. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, idle unke ...

'', released in November and was supported by European and North American tour dates. Both albums received "generally favorable" reviews according to rating aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, with French cultural magazine ''Les Inrocks'' placing the two projects collectively at number 10 in their list of the best albums of the year.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called ''The Twits'' a reflection of the group's growth "into an increasingly singular, expressive band", and the record debuted at No. 36 on the UK Albums Chart, the band's highest placement as of 2023.

Other projects

Fehmi and Fenton also make music as a duo under the name Double Virgo, a reference to their shared astrological

star sign In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

. Since 2020, they have created a number of

and

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

records together, produced by

Vegyn Joe Thornalley, known professionally as Vegyn, is a British music producer, DJ and graphic designer. He is known for his production work on Frank Ocean's ''Blonde'' and ''Endless''. In 2019, he released a 90-minute mixtape titled ''Text While D ...

and released via his label, PLZ Make It Ruins. Nina Cristante has created

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

pop music under the alias Nina (stylized NINA), often collaborating with producer and former label mate, Dean Blunt.

Members

Current members * Nina Cristante – vocals (2020–present) * Sam Fenton – vocals, guitar (2020–present) * Jezmi Tarik Fehmi – vocals, guitar (2020–present)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Quarrel'' (World Music, 2020) * ''Bedhead'' (World Music, 2021) * '' Tracey Denim'' (Matador, 2023) * ''

'' (Matador, 2023)

EPs

* ''Angelica Pilled'' (World Music, 2020) * ''CDR'' (self-released, 2022) * ''The Tw*ts'' (Matador, 2024)

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

Matador Records artists Indie rock groups from London English indie rock groups English musical trios English post-rock groups Musical groups established in 2019 {{UK-band-stub