‘rooster’ shows bar italia in widescreen, unbridled mode – Backseat Mafia

bar italia unleash feverish new single ‘rooster’ ahead of Some Like It Hot

London trio bar italia are turning up the tension with new single ‘rooster’, a feral, guitar-laced preview from their forthcoming album Some Like It Hot (out October 17 via Matador / Remote Control Records). Sliding between sinister riffs and a brooding groove, it’s a track that captures the band’s knack for balancing raw abandon with anthemic pull.

Following recent singles ‘Cowbella’ and ‘Fundraiser’—both playlisted on BBC 6 Music—‘rooster’ cements bar italia’s widescreen shift. The band’s journey from underground shadows to main-stage spectacle has been relentless: exhibitions of their own drawings in Brooklyn, guest spots on cult podcasts, hour-long DJ mixes on The Lot Radio, and a touring schedule that’s seen them headline from Istanbul to Tokyo and hit the fields of Glastonbury and Coachella.

Since first emerging with a reputation for shadowy, elusive sets, bar italia have carved out one of the most compelling arcs in modern indie. Two back-to-back albums in 2023 (Tracey Denim and The Twits) announced their arrival, while more than 160 shows across 2023–24 reshaped them into a muscular live act, just as comfortable igniting festival mosh pits as commanding moments of pin-drop intimacy. From shy, near-invisible performers to a band whose encores stretch late into the night, they’ve grown into one of the UK’s most unpredictable and thrilling exports.

‘rooster’ sits at the heart of that evolution: a declaration of surrender, with Sam Fenton crooning “I was lost to the world from the moment we kissed” as the track collapses into a fevered swirl of guitars. If early bar italia sets were cloaked in mystery, Some Like It Hot shows a band who now revel in spectacle. Quirks twist into massive choruses, intimacy bursts into theatre. The album closes in on that immortal punchline from Wilder’s 1959 classic: “Nobody’s perfect.” But with ‘rooster’, bar italia are daring to get pretty damn close.

Stream ‘rooster’ HERE.

Bar italia will tour Australia later this year, go HERE for ticketing information.

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