The deafening hype machine that surrounds Fanfarlo touched down at Bowery Ballroom last night, with press and attendees out en masse to catch the very last showcase appearance of one of the indisputably big, breakout names of the 2009 CMJ Music and Film Festival. It’s been a wild ride for the chamber-pop charmers who have seen their debut album, Reservoir, garner fawning reviews, in addition to frequent Arcade Fire/Talking Heads/Beirut comparisons/slag-offs that have only added to the growing cachet and interest in the London five-piece. This is a formidable geyser that’s been steadily bubbling up since SXSW 2008; and this week, Fanfarlo mania erupted.
The Postelles, a local New York outfit who have been championed (and produced) by Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., worked the Fanfarlo-foaming crowd with punchy, amped-up Beatles-meets-Clash good-time party rock. Standout tunes like “Hey Sister” and “Stella” got bodies moving and heads bobbing with their contagious energy and tight retro melodies.
Taking the stage with humility and gratitude, multi-instrumentalist supernovas Fanfarlo dropped jaws and plastered smiles across the capacity room within a minute flat. It must have looked like a field of Cheshire cats from their perspective, but how else can one react to the sound and feeling of unbridled joy that this band creates when lifting their voices in full flight? As Swedish lead singer Simon Balthazar lent his soaring vocals over each spirited song off of Reservoir, (“I’m A Pilot,” “Harold T. Wilkins” and “The Walls Are Coming Down” were phenomenal) speaking few words in between, preferring to let the trumpet and stunning violin do the talking, the elegance of Fanfarlo’s fantastical upward journey into sublime rhythmic ecstacy made the loudest sound. Yes, this is one to take notice of, and it’s been a quick ascent indeed: they’ve already booked Webster Hall in December. –Carrie Alison, Photos by Darcy Pancir
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