Westfalia

Westfalia’s story begins not in the homonymous region of Germany, but in the plains of Padana in northern Italy, where the band’s four components met and grew together. Their raw, visceral approach to sound design belies the members’ extensive conservatory training, which informs the chameleon-like cauldron of influences that they combine into a new genre they define as “trip rock”.

Westfalia’s first EP, We’re Not Just Good At Playing (Needn't, May 6, 2022), leaves the saccharine origins of their success on X Factor Italia in the dust. Combining soulful, yet tongue-in-cheek melodies with nuanced, harmonically saturated instrumentation, vacillating between jazz virtuosity, frenetic grooves, and immersive walls of fuzzy synth and bass, the album foreshadows the explosive energy the band brings to its live performances.

The band’s upcoming album, Odds and Ends, establishes a different outlook; the soundscapes are more spacious, the melodies more elementary, and the lyrics recall familiar sensations often left unexpressed, married to massive soundscapes that provoke introspection and bursts of emotion.

This new body of work is preceded by the two singles The Monster and Alligators, released in early 2024.