The Twits (album) explained

The Twits
Type:studio
Artist:Bar Italia
Cover:Bar Italia - The Twits.png
Alt:The Twits in large text, with "The" in black against white and "Twits" in yellow against a grey/white gradient
Recorded:February–March or April 2023[1]
Studio:Bar Italia's home studio (Mallorca)
Length:47:16
Label:Matador
Producer:Bar Italia
Prev Title:Tracey Denim
Prev Year:2023

The Twits is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock band Bar Italia, released on 3 November 2023 through Matador Records. It is their second album of 2023, following Tracey Denim. The album received positive reviews from critics. The album title comes named after the Roald Dahl's book of the same name.[2]

Release

On 19 September 2023, Bar Italia announced the release of their fourth studio album, along with the first single "My Little Tony".[3]

Critical reception

The Twits received a score of 75 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on twelve critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Mojo stated that "a queasy heat seeps into the Sonic Youth hiss and clang of My Little Tony, Jelsy's Bad Seeds metallic thrum and Shoo's slow, high plains drift". Reviewing the album for Clash, Sam Eeckhout found there to be a "profoundly plentiful amount of ideas bouncing around on The Twits, from the uptempo 'straight-ahead' rock songs to eerie-country to the slanted and driving post-punk rhythms powering songs like 'World's Greatest Emoter'".

Skye Butchard of The Skinny wrote that "a few more spins reveal a rare and exciting dynamic between the three members" as "they trade verses, taking songs in new directions, revelling in the tension where their individual ideas intersect". She felt that "the album works in short bursts of adrenaline", which "can leave midtempo ballads like Shoo feeling aimless". The Line of Best Fits Joshua Mills opined that the band have "thicken[ed] the sound since May's Tracey Denim", which "has paid dividends for The Twits, an album of great texture and detail" as well as "creativity and invention". Samuel Hyland of Pitchfork called it "an attempt to expand on a tried-and-true formula. It's bookish, looking-out-the-window music: foot-tappy and slightly unnerving, best consumed through faulty earbuds you have to hold at precisely the right angle to operate".

Personnel

Bar Italia

Additional contributors

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Twits - bar italia . . 14 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231001065945/https://baritalia.bandcamp.com/album/the-twits . 1 October 2023 . live . 'The Twits' was recorded by the trio over eight weeks from February 2023 in a makeshift home studio in Mallorca....
  2. Web site: Bar Italia just want to have fun. https://web.archive.org/web/20240324163225/https://mixmag.net/feature/bar-italia-just-want-to-have-fun-interview-matador-records-world-music . 2024-03-24.
  3. Web site: Bar Italia Announce New Album. Stereogum. Deville. Chris. 19 September 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230920190040/https://www.stereogum.com/2236554/bar-italia-announce-the-twits-their-second-album-this-year/music/. 20 September 2023. 7 August 2024.