Fanfarlo

Tennis are playing a sold-out show at The Earl tonight, with the charming newcomers Hospitality opening.  I'm not going. 

Nothing against the bands, but I've already seen Tennis twice, about this time last year at The Earl and again at Bumbershoot, and although I really want to see Hospitality, I will get the chance when they open for Eleanor Freidberger at The Basement on April 21.  But those aren't the reasons I'm not going. 

The reason I'm not going is that London's Fanfarlo, whom I haven't yet seen, are playing this evening at Vinyl.  Fanfarlo plays "lushly romantic pop songs that they find personally inspiring, incorporating horns, strings, mandolin, and vintage instruments in their live sets," and I've been wanting to see them for a while now.

Since the release of their debut album, Reservoir, in 2009, Fanfarlo has incorporated both earnest, orchestral pop and a more muscular, less emotive rock into their music, "an intoxicating combination of melancholy and wonder," according to The New Yorker.  It's also been said that Fanfarlo's precise spot on the rock-pop-folk spectrum is hard to identify.  To me, they are part of a group of bands, including Beirut and Typhoon, who employ multiple instruments and multiple genres to create joyous music of a fundamentally approachable nature.  All music, without exception, is a direct expression of the Buddha-dharma, and it's easy to hear that sound in the music of these bands.

During their Tiny Desk Concert, Fanfarlo covered Low's superb holiday song, Just Like Christmas.

The band turned up the intensity on Rooms Filled With Light, their new album.  The songs are more aggressive and there are fewer mandolin and harmonium fills, but the band still wears its artsy heart on its sleeve.