Right on the other side of the hype-scale to Grizzly Bear comes the debut album from Fanfarlo. This London based band with a Swedish born singer have hardly received any press attention so far, possibly due to the fact that they have yet to sign to a record label and this cd is only available through their website or as a gorgeous, deluxe, hand-made version through Rough Trade shops.
As for their music, Fanfarlo's debut is an entirely pleasant, polished and assured record. If that doesn't excite you, I'd advise you to still give it a try because there's plenty to love here. The arrangements are lush, with use of just about every instrument you can think of. Trumpet and accordion often take centre stage ahead of guitars, which at times make the musical landscape resemble Beirut, whilst singer Simon Balthazar sounds a little like Wim Butler.
...and if you're looking for comparisons, Fanfarlo do sometimes sound an awful lot like Arcade Fire. The opening song 'I'm A Pilot' with its marching drums and chanting is a dead ringer for 'Windowsill' from 'Neon Bible'. The faster songs all follow this anthemic template, 'Walls' and 'Fire Escape' being the pick. Perhaps the best song here though is 'Comets'. It starts off dark and mysterious with clicking and whirring like a faulty hard drive but builds into a beautiful, wistful ballad, emotion but without ever going all Coldplay. It is far more confident and effortless than any band have the right to sound on their debut record.
You need to give this record time. I've owned it since April (just got the special edition too, which was the trigger for this review) and to begin with, the songs blended into one another a little and it took time to really distinguish them, get a feel for the melodies and learn to love this record as much as it deserves. There is excellent musicianship here, the songs are well crafted and you'll be singing along too. Why they haven't had more attention I don't know, but this is one of the records of the year so far.
9.0
['Reservoir' is out now via www.fanfarlo.com. The band play the ICA tomorrow (June 2)]
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