I wrote a short blurb about this band a few months back seeing potential in a whimsical and well structured act that could easily fill a room as soon as they establish an audience. I bought their album when it was only a buck ($1) and put it off to the side for the time being. Then I got a promo copy in the mail and put the hard copy in my car for those short drives to town.
So after several full listens, the album grew on me and is now more than just a combo of Arcade Fire and Beirut. While it may sound like an entire Swedish gypsy marching band playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat rock, Fanfarlo’s first album, ‘Reservoir’, is largely a cumulative effort of many talented musicians soaking themselves in culture and genuine folkpop and danceable marches. Throughout ‘Reservoir’, the band augments its five-piece lineup with brass and string sections, weaving near-cinematic, folk-influenced chamber pop that slots in somewhere between Andrew Bird delicacy and the robust creative honesty of Neutral Milk Hotel. All of this builds and breaks the melodies under Simon Balthazar’s deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the dreamy beats like a whacked out gypsy space-folk band that has experienced all the heartbreak, love, and death as one would at the end of their life’s journey.
Purchase here.
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Fanfarlo – 
Luna