As their name might suggest, Messiness make music that doesn’t always fit neatly into a box. By taking elements of rock and indie, a swathe of older psychedelic elements and a pinch of alt-pop, their debut album shares sounds that are always interesting, even if they don’t always work.

At their best, though, this Italian band have the ability to be genuinely captivating. This is more than obvious on the album’s highlight ‘Eternity Unbound’, which hit streaming services a few weeks before the album itself. The track’s opening riffs latch onto a blend of indie and funk; then, as the melody grows, the band introduce a vocal that sounds more attuned to a world of psych and alt-pop. Once they’ve figured the audience have got a handle on that, everything falls away to reveal an odd carny inspired interlude, before tackling a broader melody with a strong Arabic influence. Then, a much catchier refrain arrives, sounding like a tribute to Robyn Hitchcock, before Messiness truly pull the metaphorical rug from under their audience with a jazz-prog interlude that sounds a lot like Caravan or Hatfield and The North in a full-on wig-out. The chorus returns just in time to ensure this feels a little more coherent, but ‘Eternity Unbound’ is very much a track where Messiness have thrown all of their best ideas into a blender to see what emerges. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it’s genuinely great.

As a stand alone listen, that’s a hard act to follow – and it potentially means that the ‘Messiness’ album peaks somewhere around the halfway mark – but the best of the rest of the material has more than enough of its own charms to make this release work as a whole.

The album’s opening cut, ‘Feature With A Rapper’ is an impressive crossover tune where elements of hard rock are present via a thumping drum part, psychedelic elements creep in with the help of filtered vocals, and a strong indie rock vibe cuts through with a hazy tone to the guitars, or at least that’s the case when they’re not working huge lead breaks where multi-layered sounds demonstrate some impressive studio trickery. There’s even a pinch of jazz, courtesy of some really busy sax. It could have felt cluttered, but the band’s confidence and talents allow this melting pot of sound to grow into something rather impressive. Even with occasional scattergun vocals, it manages to be melodic enough to be of a reasonably wide appeal, while ‘Fatally’ genuinely offers the listener something a touch more accessible. The opening of the track catches the ear with a superb harmonic guitar sound, before everything slides into a world of indie rock that occasionally sounds like a pop infused Super Furry Animals. The mix of jangly guitars and handclaps acts as a very natural bed for a slightly lax vocal, but it’s when hitting a jubilant chorus that this song really springs to life. There, huge guitar sounds dominate; a late 60s inspired melody hints at the band’s psychedelic interests and a descending melody brings out the very best in an angst ridden lyric. Throw in a great bassline that’s presented high in the mix, too. Although this is another track where Messiness offer a varied sound, but in terms of “song”, everything feels a touch more immediate.

Venturing back into a world of weird, the six minute ‘Optimized’ presents a circular riff played on a retro synth, and places that beneath a dance-oriented rhythm. The nods towards retro electronica here are a world away from ‘Eternity Unbound’ at first; not even the hazy vocal offers much of a link. Then, at the point where the listener is potentially left feeling a little bewildered, huge drums kick in, and the band splice their strange synth sounds and a bunch of backmasked vocals to a retro groove that feels like a marriage between the late 80s baggy scene and a prog band on an absolutely freaky bender. Layering more harmonic guitars over the drums and bringing in the saxophone, it’s hard not to view this as being inspired by Spacemen 3 and Soft Machine in equal measure. It’s actually a little frightening, but you certainly couldn’t accuse multi-instrumentalist/composer Max Raffa of playing safely here.

Less interesting than many of this record’s songs, but definitely geared more towards the first time listener, ‘Previous Life’ has jangling guitars at its heart that draw influence from peak Britpop, but there are a couple of other musical flourishes that help to maintain interest, even with the band taking more of a deliberately retro stance. Sitar-like sounds help everything to feel more like a love letter to Kula Shaker than The Charlatans or Oasis, and there’s a vaguely psychedelic interlude that works well with bright sounding keys. A spoken verse threatens to derail everything, but still keeps enough of a focus not to feel shoehorned in for the sake of being smart. In terms of retro sounding indie, it’s a little more mainstraim, but still a very cool track, despite the likes of ‘Eternity Unbound’ proving that Messiness are able to turn their collective hand to much greater things.

Elsewhere, ‘Doctoral Get-Together’ explores a sound that fuses funk, 80s pop and harder indie influenced drumming to create something that almost exists in its own bubble. The marriage of busy bass, atonal keys and melodic vocals sits together rather uneasily, and yet, once you tune in, sort of works. Against the busy arrangement, Max sings about “composting and recycling” and “intonation”, claiming “everyone has fun”. You’ll probably just have to take his word for that, since this forms a world that – despite showcasing one of the band’s more accessible tunes – is also slightly unsettling. ‘Anaesthetised’, meanwhile, introduces theramin sounds, stabbing keys and a knowing vocal, creating something that occasionally feels like a tribute to Beck, and occasionally drops into a strange indie landscape that aims to rip the guts from easy nostalgia. It’s good to hear Messiness rocking out a little, even if the psychedelic elements of this album often feel like the band’s stronger suit. The psych love returns via a filtered vocal on the brilliant ‘Cómo Baja, Cómo Sube’, but beyond that, the 60s flavours are slight. The number is dominated by more of a 90s indie flair, but as before, that comes through with confidence, and a warm bassline coupled with a Verve-ish melody does a lot of heavy lifting to make the track feel nostalgic even on first listen. In true Messiness tradition, things don’t settle there: the highlight of this performance comes from a semi-ugly keyboard solo that takes prog influences to share something that sounds like a piece of Bruton’s library music used for an old Schools & Colleges broadcast. It feels like Max is attempting to prick up the ears of retro geeks everywhere – and he deserves to succeed.

Those hoping to find something more melodic should make a beeline for ‘By The Sea’, an homage to the late 60s psych scene, working a blanket of keys and a floaty bassline to weave a trippy soundscape that sounds a little like ‘Stupid Dream’ era Porcupine Tree channelling The Beach Boys circa ‘Surf’s Up’, before the melody grows to incorporate another indie groove via some tautly played drums, the unexpected arrival of jazz flute, and finally some wandering sax. It doesn’t sound anything like most of this album, yet at the same time, it has a freewheeling spirit that, by the time this rolls around at the end of the disc, feels unquestionably like something from the Messiness universe.

This is one of those albums that rarely feels coherent yet, at the same time, most of the songs offer something of interest. Drop in anywhere on this debut, and you’re almost guaranteed to hear something smart. Even though a couple of the pre-release singles hinted at an interesting record in the offing, it’s gratifying that a couple of the deeper album cuts were held back for those more interested in a long-form listen. It can be a little frustrating in places, but patience certainly pays off: if you don’t like what you hear at first, the rewards will come in time. For the more adventurous ear, ‘Messiness’ is a potential joy.

November 2025