Landing on the Brussels scene at the end of 2021, Ada Oda’s up-tempo binary rock is reminiscent of the post-punk aplomb of the 80s and the melodic flights of Italian Pop.

The project was launched in 2020 by César Laloux (The Tellers, BRNS), who met Victoria Barracato on Tinder and, given the sound of her name, suggested that she should sing on his songs in Italian. Victoria accepted the challenge.

Un Amore Debole, the group’s first album, was released by 62TV/PIAS in 2022 and featured a dozen pop songs built from demos that were stripped down to the bare essentials (drum machine, guitar and melody). César was describing, sometimes with a touch of irony, his vision of love and the people around him. His lyrics were first translated into Italian and then adapted by Victoria.

The album was a big hit, with tracks such as ‘Un Amore Debole’ and ‘Niente da Offrire’ going on to become huge hits all over Europe, but especially in Italy (!).

On stage, the duo is joined by Clément Marion on bass (David Numwami, Judith Kiddo), Alex De Bueger (Gros Coeur) and Aurélien Gainetdinoff (Yolande Bashing) on guitar. The group has played over 200 concerts in some twenty countries. Ada Oda now have an excellent reputation on the live circuit, and have performed at some of Europe’s biggest festivals, including Rock en Seine, Best Kept Secret, Pukkelpop, MI AMI, ESNS, and the highly prestigious SXSW in Austin 2024, leaving Europe for the first time.

They return in February with their new album Pelle d’Oca, 11 tracks written at home by César, mainly between 2023 and 2024, before setting off on tour. First tested in Pisa in November 2023 at Ale Sportelli Recording studio, they were then recorded and produced as a group in Ghent with Pieterjan Coppejans and mixed in Atlanta at Mirror Mirror studio by Graham Tavel.

Pelle d’Oca (Hen’s Flesh) embodies the collision of two opposing feelings: pleasure and fear. A paradox experienced by the band, between the excitement of a first album that propelled them onto exhilarating stages across Europe and North America, and the more intimate starting point of the themes tackled: The fear of impossible love (‘E questa è la vita’, ‘Settembre’, ‘Ho Amato Tutto’), the fear that feeds jealousy (‘La Gioventù’, ‘Sotto la Conchiglia’), fear of a world spinning out of control (‘In Piazza’, ‘Figlia d’Europa’, ‘Sicurezza Priorità’), fear of death (‘Sul Palo’), and fear of expressing one’s emotions (‘Immobile’, ‘Vecchia Storia’).

From a formal point of view, the band favours continuity: an album in 32 minutes, with effective ballads and pop songs as well as punk firebrands carved out of the energy of live performance, no-frills production, hard-hitting guitars, immediate melodies, all carried by a taut rhythm section, and Victoria’s voice, oscillating between emo vocals and breathless parlando.