Comprised of Dario Torre (vocals and guitar), Giacomo Salzano (bass guitar), Raffaele Bocchetti (guitar), and Davide Fusco (drums), the Italian psych rock quartet Stella Diana have gradually developed a national reputation for a sound that draws from Catherine Wheel, RIDE, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, The Chameleons, Pale Saints, Lush, The Stone Roses, Talk Talk and others; in other words, it’s a sound that possesses familiar elements of shoegaze, post-punk, dream pop and new wave — with lyrics sung primarily in their native Italian. And as a result, the quartet have been considered the forefront of a purely Italian version of shoegaze (which the Italian press have considered an unprecedented achievement).
“41 61 93” was released to critical acclaim and with the track’s inclusion of the track on the Revolution — The Shoegaze Revival compilation, touted by Creation Records‘ Joe Foster as an unprecedented collection of the best contemporary crop of shoegaze bands, the band started to receive increasing international attention. Shortly after that, Brazil’s TBTCI Records commissioned the band to cover RIDE’s “Leave Them All Behind” for a RIDE tribute album and they participated in Seashell Records‘ Slowdive tribute album Souvlaki Reheated.
Building upon the growing attention the Italian quartet has received, the members of Stella Diana recently released their latest EP Alhena across both the UK and Italy through Vipchoyo Sound Factory Records. And the EP’s first single “Shohet” is a densely layered, lush, shimmering and anthemic track that sounds as though it draws from RIDE and My Vitriol (in particular, I was reminded of “Always Your Way“) — but with a brooding nature at its core.
