bar italia - Some Like It Hot Review

On their latest album, cult favourites bar italia swap quiet cool for cinematic indulgence, striving for something grander before curtain call. 

It’s been two years since bar italia made their Matador debut with Tracey Denim, a collection of not-quite-pop tracks that built upon the quiet cool of their previous releases with Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland’s World Music. Not long after, the Peckham-born trio brought out The Twits, a record still steeped in minimalism but with a little more grit, bringing fuzzier guitars and stranger textures to the fore. Somewhere between the two, they officially cemented their place as one of those artists you hear enthused whispers about in the shadows of cult venues. Your favourite band’s favourite band, or the subject of your least favourite Hinge match’s most wince-inducing prompt. Just the sound of the trio’s voices bleeding through your headphones became an immediate claim to cool. 

It would have been easy for bar italia to ride this wave of reputation, to continue making that almost lazy-sounding guitar music. They do it better than most of their peers, their sound bolstered by their penchant for peculiar pop, their comfort with the quiet, and the creative tension of three different voices each fighting for the microphone. But while all of those defining traits remain on Some Like It Hot, the band’s fifth full-length offering and their third for Matador, there’s also a sense that they’re shrugging off that minimalism and moodiness that was so present on their earlier work for a little more drama and polish. 

There’s something almost dramatic about Some Like It Hot. Taking its name from the 1959 Marilyn Monroe movie of the same name, bar italia’s latest album is fittingly much more cinematic than their previous releases. Sultry vocals and instrumental indulgence take centre stage, telling vivid tales of characters equal parts delicate and dangerous, Hollywood monsters and graffiti jesters. Opener ‘Fundraiser’ sets those fresh intentions in place, “Must be an actor the way you play,” sings Fenton with new polish, while clashing cymbals and unrelenting riffs coax more reserved fans out of their shell.

It’s a track that maybe doesn’t quite shine as a single, but performs much better as the introductory track to Some Like It Hot. In fact, the same could be said for most of the band’s pre-album standalone releases. ‘Cowbella’ is undeniably catchy and ‘rooster’ is confident and raucous, but they’re not necessarily tracks that you’ll be obsessing over weeks (unlike ‘Nurse!’ or ‘changer’). Delivered as part of this full project, though, they’re part of something grander, a more interesting pivot for the band even if no particular song is a hit. 

From ‘Fundraiser’ onwards, bar italia revel in knowing twangs and swaying soundtracks, perfecting balladry on the nightmarish ‘Marble Arch’ and ticking off the drawling duet on ‘bad reputation’. “Blame the city dwellings, blame this sticky smelling, highways that get my heart swelling,” Cristante sings on the latter, allowing her voice to curve around each syllable with an actor’s intent rather than a vocalist’s. It works. As with their previous releases, the playful interaction between singers remains a highlight on Some Like It Hot, the band’s three-vocalist lineup easily lending itself to this new, more theatrical style – a built-in variety show. 

Take ‘Plastered’, for example. Opening with Cristante’s soft reflections on a relationship where shortcomings become blurred, where guilt shifts to desperate attempts to restore peace, Fenton’s voice provides the other side of the narrative. “What you lookin for in Mr Right?” he asks, and later, “Why don’t you feel it, why don’t you see it like you used to yesterday?” It’s easy to imagine them performing the track to one another on-stage in a dimlight speakeasy, drenched in hot spotlights and their own drama. It’s a subtle move towards something more ornate, an enhancement of elements that already existed in the band’s very DNA but that were once shrouded in minimalism. 

There are glimpses at the rock band that preceded Some Like It Hot. ‘rooster’ turns things up a notch with impassioned vocals from all sides and some of the record’s most striking guitar moments, proving that their grittier sound isn’t as distant as it might appear. Meanwhile, ‘Eyepatch’ is almost a straight-up nostalgic indie tune, bouncy and riff-driven with singalong-worthy lines like “I know you’re having the worst time ever,” but all the while maintaining the idiosyncrasies that make bar italia such a cult band. Still, even in these moments, their once subtle and shrouded sound feels bolstered. 

The record ends with its title track, ‘Some Like It Hot’, which seems to encapsulate the spotlit sound of 2025 bar italia. A drawn out intro affords us intermittent keys and plucked strings, the occasional screech of feedback. It seems minimalist on the surface, but it’s charged and lengthy, and dramatic as a result. “Of all that has been said,” a voice breaks through the tension over a gorgeous collection of strums and subtle beats, “There’s one thing I regret, that you were on my mind, at any point that night.” The band try to find their way back themselves through distant fires and deep darkness, crawling whispers and dark crowds, a striking ending just as cinematic as everything that came before it. The curtain call. 

True to its title, Some Like It Hot might alienate some of bar italia’s more established fans with its newfound polish and speakeasy stylings. It’s not necessarily as striking on first listen as Tracey Denim, and maybe not as consistently cool, but it is proof that bar italia are keeping things moving. Although the charm of lo-fi recordings and moody minimalism is occasionally lost, there are other sources of intrigue here. Plus, all of those bar italia idiosyncrasies remain beneath the newly shimmering surface – ever-switching vocalists conversing over guitar songs that no other band could possibly concoct – they’re just swapping monochrome moodiness for technicolour.