Fanfarlo The Walls Are Coming Down

I'm in love with this self-released debut album. This is what we've all been looking for: some tapping, some smooth London-boy vocals, poetic lyrics"¦ These songs sound like effort, patience and thoughtfulness, and the results are beautiful. The London-based group, fronted by Swedish-born Simon Balthazar, must be on the brink of making it big. Fanfarlo's instrumentation here is grand: from violins to trumpets and mandolin all add to the glockenspiel, guitar and drums.

I'm trying to decide what song I like best; all of them are so charmingly full of soul. "Ghosts" and "Luna" have one sound, while "the walls are falling down" and "drowning men" bring out a different mood. This album is more than music, its pure art. The music induces foot tapping, but also sets emotions whirling. Yet, even with its changes, this is a cohesive album. There is one emotional and melodic journey here; a musical journey I've already jumped on.

There're some bands that surpass the day-to-day shrapnel that so often seems to be significant in music. They simply transcend the bouffant mullets, neon vests and Fisher Price synths "“ which isn't to say their art is any more precious, more that they'd rather get their heads down and retreat to craft a stirring opus before freeing it upon the world. "¦ Fanfarlo have mastered the ability to merge a sincere melancholy with a passion that really connects, strings zapping you like electric currents in the sea of kitchen sink instrumentation leading Balthazar's open-book vocal refrains. "˜Reservoir' is ample testimony of their talents, and marks the long-awaited arrival proper of one of the country's most promising (not so) new bands - Clash Music