Icebreaker

For a band hailed as the new voice of Italian slacker rock, there’s a defiant sense of energy and zeal to the music on FREEZ’s new album Icebreaker. Urgency, too, like they’re in a hurry to fulfil all those lofty proclamations of greatness thrust upon them since their debut EP, Routine, in 2017. And while their echo-drenched, garage rock vibes make it sound like they were birthed between Oakland, San Francisco, and Long Beach, for frontman and songwriter Michele Bellinaso, there’s a better descriptor for where the quintet – Bellinaso on vocals and guitar, Stefano Bassan on guitar, Nicolò Bressan on drums, Alessandro Zordan on bass, and Riccardo Persico on Eko organ and percussion – find themselves in 2023; Emo. Paring back the sound somewhat suits FREEZ just fine, all the better to showcase Bellinaso’s keen ear for melody and the clarity of his songwriting. For while Icebreaker stands as a fine addition to the garage rock cannon and will no doubt fuel many giddy nights of down-the-front revellery, it’s also a deeply personal statement; not just about where Bellinaso and the band find themselves now, but what they’ve lived through. Icebreaker is the second album from Italian quintet FREEZ, written between 2020 and the beginning of 2023. Recorded by Michele Bellinaso and Stefano Bassan, mixed by Italian engineer Bruno Barcella.