Radio Trapani and Anton Sconosciuto have shared “So Strong So Lean,” a hushed dream-pop / alternative-pop ballad that trades in the nostalgic and the everyday. Drums, bass, guitars and vocals hold a steady, unhurried line through the track while electronic textures, synths and orchestral flourishes are stitched delicately over the top.

For all its softness, the song has a sharp eye. Its lyric is a wry portrait of a “gym bro” whose days revolve around a strict (and very healthy) diet and a non-negotiable workout routine, habits shaped, and quietly stoked, by a constant feed of social-media fitness content and the low-grade anxiety that comes with it. The result lands somewhere between affectionate and satirical, leaning on an electro-folk palette that nods as much to Gorillaz as it does to Dirty Projectors.

The pairing is a meeting of two solo projects. Both Italian but long based abroad, Radio Trapani and Anton Sconosciuto have been writing together since the summer of 2023, splitting the work between Amsterdam, London and Rome. Because English is their everyday language, their lyrics have drifted into an English/Italian hybrid that chases the sound of a phoneme as readily as it follows syntax, applied to contemporary subjects ranging from pollution and the cost of living to relationships and lonely summer landscapes.

“So Strong So Lean” follows the duo’s debut EP, think twice, it’s not alright, which opens on a dark, liminal intro before settling into Beatles-tinged drums, string-mimicking synths and that bilingual wordplay. The physical edition is a cassette: the EP on the A-side, and on the B-side a collection of material from the same sessions that never quite found its final form.

Stream and download “So Strong So Lean” by Radio Trapani & Anton Sconosciuto HERE.