A Hell Of Your Own Making

Italia 90 “Borderline”

Italia 90 fit into the ongoing wave of bands from the UK and Ireland mixing half-spoken vocals with post-punk derived aesthetics, but vocalist Les Miserable’s approach is noticeably less wry or literary than a lot of his peers. In “Borderline” he sounds abrasive and hectoring as he repeats lines about making cowardly and lazy decisions that lead one to a misery that just gets deeper. Is he talking to you? Is he talking to himself? Is he talking about society, man? Could be all of the above! I like that lyrics as blunt as this could still come across as ambiguous – it’s not even clear whether this is meant to be a show of tough love or just rubbing salt in someone’s wounds.

Buy it from Bandcamp.