I’ll just come out and say it. I have found my new sonic nirvana in the audio that is Stella Diana. What I find fascinating is that this is an Italian band and not a group formed on the streets of London or even NYC. What you get with their new album, “Alhena”, is a textured mass of layered melodies and dreamy chordal changes that send the beautifully crafted vocals into the atmosphere of the new wave. Highly recommended.
“Alhena” will be released on November 27th via Raphalite Records.
“Perhaps the most interesting shoegaze phenomenon emerging from Italy. Unique in the world of Italian shoegaze… nothing short of fabulous” – The Record Stache
“Walls of Sounds from Naples. Get lost in this cool wave of noise” – 50thirdand3rd (NYC)
“Creating some of the best sonic sounds around, not only in Italy, but in my opinion, some of the best in Europe” – Primal Music Blog
@stelladiana4 [rotatingtweets screen_name=’stelladiana4′]
About Stella Diana:
Hailing from a city more known for pizza and opera than shoegaze and new wave addicts, Stella Diana possess not only the spirit of late 80s/early 90s British bands like Ride, but also the dark wave seeds of Joy Division and the stylistic underpinnings of new wave artists like Psychedelic Furs and The Chameleons, all of whom number among the band’s influences. Others include Pale Saints, Lush, Catherine Wheel, The Stone Roses, Codeine, Christian Death, and Talk Talk.
Since their inception in 1998, Stella Diana has gradually become recognized by the Italian press as one of the best shoegaze bands in the country with their intricate, brooding and textured mix of shoegaze, post-punk, dreampop and new wave. They have managed to grow a sizeable international following despite singing entirely in Italian – an unprecedented achievement for an Italian indie band in these respective genres.
According to Italian portal Rock.it, Stella Diana produces music “that sounds like shoegaze no one has ever made in Italy”. Italian tastemaker indieforbunnies.it sees Stella Diana as trailblazers “not only because it is very difficult to find another shoegaze band in Italy so compelling, but also because they manage to perfectly blend the dreampop concept with walls of distortion and the Italian language”, noting that “it is virtually impossible to find another band like this in Italy”.
In 2014, Stella Diana released ’41 61 93′ to critical acclaim, finally achieving a perfect synthesis of distorted guitars and dilated sounds. After working exclusively with Spanish and Italian labels, their track featured on the compilation ‘REVOLUTION – The Shoegaze Revival’, touted by Creation Records’ Joe Foster as a collection of the best new wave of shoegaze bands, and released on UK label Raphalite Records and Indonesian label Gerpfast Kolektif. Brazil’s TBTCI Records also commissioned them to play “Leave Them All Behind” for a Ride Tribute album and they also participated in the Slowdive tribute ‘Souvlaki Reheated’ (Seashell Records). They gained further recognition through this and generated a nice buzz in the blogosphere, which led to them signing with Raphalite Records to release their forthcoming ‘Alhena’ EP.
The first single ‘Shohet’ is due for release in October. The song is indicative of a release full of melodic gems. Tracks spirit you into a state of bliss, underpinned with a harmonic complexity that both beguiles and entrances. Welcome to your new favourite Italian band.
Stella Diana are Dario Torre (vocals and guitar), Giacomo Salzano (bass guitar), Roberto Amato (guitar), Raffaele Bocchetti (guitar), and Davide Fusco (drums).
LINKS:
http://www.stelladiana.com/
http://twitter.com/stelladiana4
https://www.facebook.com/StellaDianaBand
https://stelladiana.bandcamp.com/
