Julia Bardo - Bauhaus, L'Appartamento (LP)

Julia Bardo’s debut full length lands like a well thumbed diary set to jangly guitars and late night keys. Bauhaus, L’Appartamento arrived in September 2021 on Wichita Recordings, and it feels shaped by two homes at once. She grew up in Brescia, Italy, then moved to Manchester, and you can hear that tug. The songs have a continental tilt in their wistful melodies, yet they walk with the brisk indie stride that city is known for. It is a quietly bold first statement, tender in places, clipped and punchy in others, and it rewards a full front to back listen.

The title suits the music. There is a sense of clean lines and careful space, but also a lived in warmth, as if plants are creeping over the edges of a minimalist shelf. Guitars ring with a tasteful shimmer, sometimes joined by soft organ and roomy drums. Bardo’s voice sits close to the ear, conversational, with a gentle rasp when she leans in. She does not oversing. She underlines. Little turns of phrase stick, often in the last line of a verse, and that restraint gives the choruses extra lift.

If you heard her early singles, you will find the same clear aesthetic here, refined and better lit. Do This To Me Right Now is the hook machine, sharp and taut, the kind of song that makes you check the runout and play it again. The Most takes a slower route, a late afternoon sway with the blinds half open. Both tracks show her knack for a melody that seems simple at first, then shows its angles after a few spins. That is the album in a nutshell. Immediate, then lingering.

Bardo writes about distance and identity without treating them like big concepts. It is more about the small choices. How you talk to yourself after a rough day. How you pick up the phone, or do not. She switches from cool detachment to sudden tenderness, and that shape shifting keeps even the softer tracks from blending together. There is at least one moment where she slides into Italian, and it lands like a postcard from home. Not a gimmick. Just another shade of the same story.

Production is light on its feet. Nothing feels nailed to the floor. Bass lines move, guitars chime rather than crunch, and the vocals ride high but never glare. It sounds like a room, not a lab. You can almost picture the amps tucked into corners, cables coiled by the door. On vinyl, that air really opens up. If you spot Bauhaus, L’Appartamento vinyl while crate digging, grab it. The stereo field gives each part a little extra breath, and her voice sits beautifully on a good system.

Reception was warm across the indie press, and you can hear why. It is not trying to reinvent the wheel. It just makes the wheel spin smooth, with a few subtle design tweaks that mark it as hers. Fans of thoughtful guitar pop will file it near artists who prize songcraft and texture over volume. The sequencing helps too. The record flows, never sprints, and by the closing stretch you feel like you have been somewhere, then found your way back.

I also like how she lets the band play. There are tasteful fills and small rhythmic feints that keep the pulse alive. A tambourine here, a backing vocal that drifts in and out there. Nothing is showy, yet every detail earns its place. That curatorial sense extends to the album art and the typography, which echo the title’s clean aesthetic. It is all of a piece.

If you are hunting for Julia Bardo vinyl, this is the one to start with, and it is the one that will stay when you thin the shelves later. Bauhaus, L’Appartamento vinyl is still around at some shops, though it is not the sort of record that lingers in the cheap bins. Keep an eye on your favorite Melbourne record store or any shop that keeps a sturdy section of Wichita titles. For those outside the big cities, it is easy enough to buy Julia Bardo records online, and most stores that specialize in Julia Bardo albums on vinyl ship widely, including plenty that deal in vinyl records Australia wide.

Debuts can be anxious things. This one breathes. Put it on a quiet weeknight, or the morning after a long one, and it will find you where you are. Each play gives back a little more, and by the end you might feel like the room has changed shape in a small but welcome way. That is all I ask from a first album, and this one delivers.