Fanfarlo: Reservoir

Those horror movies which always start with people arriving at a bizarre, farflung territory before they're offed in order of how bad their acting talents are, a natural update is evolving.

Rather than groups of college students wanting to blow off some steam, they should adjust it to being an indie band trying to conjure up their latest opus. You have to figure that there's enough raw emotion in the room to start somebody's ghost. There's lots of moving around: hello ancient talisman which releases a curse when broken. Or, you could have you good old fashioned masked killer who just doesn't like young people.

Fanfarlo - for this, their début album - embarked upon an epic trek to a house studio in Connecticut, America to record this album. It's not quite a ramshackle cabin in the woods (although is anyone going to go to one of those after Lars Von Trier...) but it's a start, especially for a London-based band.

It's quite refreshing to see a band take their time with their first album. Rather than rushing straight in, Fanfarlo have taken the time to build growing acclaim through a series of singles, released on various independent record labels. "Talking Backwards", "You Are One Of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us", "Fire Escape" and "Harold T. Wilkins" gave the band time to hone over a period of two years.

Enough of the history lesson. It's impossible to avoid the Arcade Fire comparisons with this one. We did try, but the Canadian baroque-pop ensemble are the proverbial elephant in the room. For a band seeking to put an array of eclectic instrumentation (various stringed instruments, various percussion (glockenspiel, piano)) to work on emotionally-charged songs which veer from faint whisper to explosive walls of delicate noise, it's hardly an unearned comparison.

Even the quieter moments work in the band's favour. "If it is Growing" strips out the unrestrained tsunami of their choruses, replaced by a simple melody, propelled by the simple piano - the world's most versatile instrument (besides the cowbell). Avoiding all the potential pitfalls of the 'intimate' ballad - melodrama, overwought performances, loss of diversity, maudlin songwriting, obvious playing to the masses - Fanfarlo prove here that there is more to them than intricately woven exercises in captivating baroqueness.

Before that, introductory number "I'm a Pilot" shows the band at their sturdiest with a track which captures the mood of a 20's hootenanny, but filtered through a more contemporary sound. The pondering march which stamps the record into life. You can practically taste the dust flying off the keys as the piano strikes take the lead in the song. Front-man Simon Balthazar has an almost timeless quality to his voice. It could stem from any number of eras right back to the advent of the modern English language down to our day. Thankfully, he has also never heard of auto-tune.

"Drowning Men" and "The Walls Are Coming Down" only serve to heighten such impressions. The drums never cease to be anything less than a cascading delight. The bursts of trumpets, string sections, and other assorted instruments never serve to over-cook the pot, feeling natural, almost mandatory to the band's texture.

Being a British album, it is obviously nowhere near as explosively and openly passionate as the efforts of their American doppelgangers, yet it's this slightly reserved charm which gives the band a slight edge. The lyrics are impressively dark and detailed, and the reluctant to convey them in short, sharp bursts of angst only serve to add gravitas and importance to them. Forcing you to think a little, rather than allowing it all to wash over you effortlessly.

Starting a life in music with such a strong label already attached mightn't be much fun for a band trying to forge their own path. Yet Win Butler and his band of miscreants have never been an albatross around anybody's neck. Besides, the albatross used to be a good-luck symbol until some idiot decided to shoot it. 

Having a built-in fanbase for your very first album, and one which will not be disappointed by your offerering: that's quite a feat Fanfarlo!