bar italia – Cowbella

bar italia return with ‘Cowbella’, first new material since 2024’s ‘The Tw*ts’ EP.

Built on a quietly surging guitar line, ‘Cowbella’ smoulders with Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton’s vocals spinning in low orbit around each other. The track slowly builds toward a release that’s been gathering steam since 2023. Time gets bendy here. The disjointedness becomes the point.

The band blends motorik drive with fuzzed-out vocal and guitar pairings. Shifting vocal lines between the trio keep things dynamic. A sparkly, psych-inflected coda closes with bright openness.

‘Cowbella’ serves as meta-commentary on the band’s rise, dissecting hype while questioning whether broken records can still make noise. The lyrics don’t take prisoners: “You got a lotta friends / But how many like you…?” The caustic return feels typical for a band whose enigmatic status remains intact.

The past two years saw bar italia release two albums via Matador Records – ‘Tracey Denim’ and ‘The Twits’ – only months apart. During 2023-2024, they performed over 160 shows worldwide, including Corona Capital, Glastonbury and Coachella, plus sold-out multi-night runs in New York and Los Angeles.

‘Cowbella’ arrives alongside extensive European and North American tour dates, following a sold-out warm-up show at 93 Feet East on June 19th. The autumn tour covers London, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto.