This Wednesday on November 12th, Iowa City embraces the New Wave revival as the trailblazing Italo disco band, Nuovo Testamento performs at The James Theater as part of The Englert’s Track Zero Series. Hailing from Italy and brought together in Los Angeles, California, Nuovo Testmento has one mission: dance through the pain. Reminiscent of Depeche Mode, Strawberry Switchblade, and 90s dance pop, Nuovo Testamento reimagines the 20th century in the present day. Classic themes within the band’s music include partying, yearning, and emotional despair–extremely typical of new wave music. At times I could hear motifs in their sound that reminded me of Japanese city pop, a genre gaining popularity within the past several years.
Nuovo Testamento has been releasing music consistently throughout their 6 year run. Their latest EP Trouble, released just this past July. Their most popular project is their 2021 album New Earth with their featured hit, The Searcher. The Searcher is catchy, dynamic, and serves as an echoing love letter to goth club pop of the past century.
Since their debut in 2019, Nuovo Testamento has been the shining star of goth clubs, replicating and revitalizing those time capsule sounds from the 80s and 90s. Members Chelsea Crowley, Giacomo Zatti, and Andrea Mantione place emphasis on their roots in Italian disco and synth pop, stating that they want listeners to “think of all of [their] favorite synth-era throwback hits mixed with a modern pop sensibility and songs that will carve their way into [their] synapses…and stay there.”
In a 2021 interview for POST-PUNK.COM, Zatti answered that the name Nuovo Testamento (translated to New Testament) came from the band’s Italian upbringing, and the deeply ingrained Catholicism within it. He said “We’re fascinated by the infinite misuses and misinterpretations of something considered so fundamental… The conflicts and contradictions in that conversation are so interesting and we were talking about it a lot at the time… we started making this music that was both light and dark… it just stuck,” (Zatti, for POST-PUNK.COM).
Their inspirations hold close to the Catholic imagery often present in the new wave and post-punk gothic projects of the 1980s. This era of U.K. New Wave bands were famously using music as a form of protest and developing a counterculture to their mainstream in the 1980s. Many European new wave groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths all worked with art inspired by themes of Christianity, as Nuovo Testamento continues and reimagines their own relations with Catholicism and counterculture, continuing the tradition in the modern age.
If you still find yourself unconvinced, take it from the bandcamp.com users who recommend this band. Username blaxcodexx444 says, “The Searcher gives me Freestyle 80s vibe. I love the vocals and the synth beat are harmonies. I saw this band live, and I fell in love ever since.” User NobleNova says, “Growing up listening to 80’s music, this feels so reminiscent and nostalgic unlike anything else. I feel like I time hopped into a period of time I never got to experience. I seriously can’t get enough of this album.“
Catch Nuovo Testamento this Wednesday November 12th at the James Theater, more information on the show can be found here. Stay up-to-date with upcoming alternative shows in Iowa City from Track Zero with The Englert. With or without me, I hope you enjoy the show.
