Fanfarlo
Reservoir
2009 (self-released)
Walking the line between chamber pop and twee-bliss, Reservoir, the 2009 debut album from London-based Fanfarlo is a brilliant piece of work from any band, much less one making its debut.
With predictable comparisons to Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut, front man Simon Balthazar’s range and ability to complement his band’s baroque melodies separate this record from the realm of simply derivative.
Despite their galactic monikers, tracks “Comet” and “Luna” provide the most down to earthly accessible moments on the record, with the former’s disjointed crescendo of strings breaching the borders of triumphant. “Fire Escape” finds the band loosening up the collars of their wool cardigans and rocking out to a backbeat and catchy trumpet melodies. Still, the band proves itself to be more than just another wistful pop act and channels Peter Buck’s right-hand with the track “Harold T. Wilkins”, an enjoyable foot stomper.
“If It Is Growing” brings forth the most intimate moment of the record, with a track that sees the band as its most vulnerable, harnessed by horns, strings, and keys. Instrumental “Good Morning Midnight” closes the record with a mandolin piece that lets you off easily after a nice ride.
As Balthazar sings on “If It Is Growing”, "If it is clawing/And wants to get out/Then let it come out", you get the sense on this record that there is a band that wants to get out, and will get out and establish its own identity as more than just another band that sounds like that band from Montreal.
B+
HOSS
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