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Product Description
Review
Goodness knows whether there's still an appetite for bombastic baroque-rock – even Arcade Fire softened into something more pop on The Suburbs – but Fanfarlo are willing to wave it under our noses one more time. A dangerous three years after their not-bad debut Reservoir, the London-anchored (but Swede-led) band have barely changed their formula, fighting for the big crescendo in every bar and striving for something mysterious and romantic in every key change. Crucially though, this time, everything's one louder. And the songs are stronger.
What this means is any residual folkiness has been shed as Fanfarlo take the Noah and the Whale route to radio ubiquity. Yes, there's some muted violin on Dig, a stroked harp on Tightrope, but by and large Rooms Filled With Light hits the big fantastical rock accelerator, packing tracks with synths, mounting strings and celestial brass. It's Disney enough to give you toothrot, but the sugar highs are offset by the odd sour low.
And the highs are dizzying. Lenslife is the repeat player, all big brass and euphoria with a chorus that's unexpected every time you hear it – it sounds like Eno and Byrne have parachuted into The Maccabees. But it's nearly matched by Tightrope, which is a bit of an indie skiffle all told, only with drunken Beirut horns and discordant piano giving it some welcome weirdness. By its end, it's hurtling towards Dexys-patented amphetamine soul.
Shiny Things does intriguing things too, coming on like dour-period OMD covering Bee Gees' You Win Again before pummelling away into another of those brassy finishes. There's little doubt Fanfarlo want to be big – that's Big Music rather than Coldplay-massive, although the cash probably won't hurt – but they have their limitations. Singer Simon Balthazar is from the 80s indie school of mannered vocals, always a barrier to leaping out of your speakers, and Fanfarlo can't shake that lingering temptation to skip off into twee. Still, one man's limitations are another fellow's charms, and Rooms Filled With Light never dips beneath beguiling. Most of the time it's really quite grand.
--Matthew Horton
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CD Description
The follow-up to Fanfarlo's 2009 critically acclaimed debut album Reservoir was recorded by Ben H Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective) during a six week session at Bryn Derwen, a studio located in a remote former slate quarry in Wales. "Rooms Filled With Light was a phrase I found in an old notebook," says Fanfarlo's singer and songwriter Simon Balthazar, "To me it summed something up, creation, not creation of the world, but what we do as people. It seems like creating rooms and filling them with light is a very modern, fundamental human activity, creating little worlds. It resonates with the whole experience of making art or music."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Simon Balthazar and his band of merry minstrels, notwithstanding lineup changes
since their 2009 debut 'Reservoir', have come up with a cracking second showing
with 'Rooms Filled With Light'. There is a sense of purpose and drama in these
twelve tracks which deserves to win them new fans if given the exposure it deserves.
Mr Balthazar knows how to spin a good tune and has the kind of voice (a very good
one) which quickly gets under your skin and stays there pulsing away well after
the last echoes of the recording fade away into the night and well on into the
following morning. The arrangements are clear and crisp and lucid and make good
use of strings and brass to augment the confident organic structure of the whole.
Take a composition like 'Tunguska' : old-fashioned in a wholly reassuring way, it
delivers a simple sixties-flavoured melody and nails it to the mast with conviction
and a total absence of irony. It's a wonderfully soppy and well-rounded invention.
So too opening gambit 'Replicate' which heightens our anticipation with its pulsing
violins and chirpy fairground organ decorations; when the chorus finally unfolds
we are swept away by the beguiling owlish vocal accents and Mr Balthazar's well-
focused central performance. The single 'Deconstruction' romps along like a happy
puppy chasing leaves in the wind and 'Tightrope' shows off the rhythm section
(terrific bass playing here!) and the band's capacity for ribald vocal harmonies
to fine effect. 'Bones' is about as good as a good song gets; a resounding anthem
which packs real emotional clout and the melancholy 'A Flood' which comes a close second
as top track. The tiny coda 'Everything Resolves' brings the project to a magical chiming close.
I loved every minute of it and was left wanting more. Fanfarlo are a very fine band indeed.
Highly Recommended.
since their 2009 debut 'Reservoir', have come up with a cracking second showing
with 'Rooms Filled With Light'. There is a sense of purpose and drama in these
twelve tracks which deserves to win them new fans if given the exposure it deserves.
Mr Balthazar knows how to spin a good tune and has the kind of voice (a very good
one) which quickly gets under your skin and stays there pulsing away well after
the last echoes of the recording fade away into the night and well on into the
following morning. The arrangements are clear and crisp and lucid and make good
use of strings and brass to augment the confident organic structure of the whole.
Take a composition like 'Tunguska' : old-fashioned in a wholly reassuring way, it
delivers a simple sixties-flavoured melody and nails it to the mast with conviction
and a total absence of irony. It's a wonderfully soppy and well-rounded invention.
So too opening gambit 'Replicate' which heightens our anticipation with its pulsing
violins and chirpy fairground organ decorations; when the chorus finally unfolds
we are swept away by the beguiling owlish vocal accents and Mr Balthazar's well-
focused central performance. The single 'Deconstruction' romps along like a happy
puppy chasing leaves in the wind and 'Tightrope' shows off the rhythm section
(terrific bass playing here!) and the band's capacity for ribald vocal harmonies
to fine effect. 'Bones' is about as good as a good song gets; a resounding anthem
which packs real emotional clout and the melancholy 'A Flood' which comes a close second
as top track. The tiny coda 'Everything Resolves' brings the project to a magical chiming close.
I loved every minute of it and was left wanting more. Fanfarlo are a very fine band indeed.
Highly Recommended.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved Fanfarlo's first album (Reservoir)and I bought Rooms Filled With Light on day one.
After one month I can say that this album is better than the first (I thought it wasn't possible).
The sound is very different but I think it's perfect.
After one month I can say that this album is better than the first (I thought it wasn't possible).
The sound is very different but I think it's perfect.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
bewitching
5 Mar 2012
Format:Audio CD
While I agree with most in the 'miyaidan' review (thanks for being the first), I'm not quite sure this album is all feel-good music, which makes it so much more spectacular than Fanfarlo's debut, which I found a bit monotonous.
On Rooms Filled with Light I think Fanfarlo has moved away from Arcade Fire / Belle and Sebastian references and managed to create a unique sound that recalls the freshness of New Wave 80s pop.
The enigmatic opener 'Replicate' leaves me wanting more. The odd sensations that it arouses make me think of something Bernard Herrmann might do for Hitchcock if they were both still alive. And while the follow-up 'Deconstruction' is dancier and more upbeat, you still get that creepy violin break at the end of the bridge, and then the song ends with a major shift, an almost sorrow-filled piano outro.
The album continues in this fashion, offering a myriad array of emotion and sound that is both stunning and familiar. From a deeply sincere 'Shiny Things' (reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem) to the punchy and playful 'Tightrope' to the dreamy rhythmic wonder of 'Feathers' and the melancholic power of 'Bones,' Fanfarlo has achieved something very few artist do: create a musically-variegated album that still houses the heart of the band inside every song.
Is 'A Flood' a reference to the next flood, the end of all things, death? This heartbreaking song leads right into the short piano outro 'Everything Resolves' reminding us that no matter how hard life gets, it all works out in the end. (Then hit 'Replicate' and start all over again.)
On Rooms Filled with Light I think Fanfarlo has moved away from Arcade Fire / Belle and Sebastian references and managed to create a unique sound that recalls the freshness of New Wave 80s pop.
The enigmatic opener 'Replicate' leaves me wanting more. The odd sensations that it arouses make me think of something Bernard Herrmann might do for Hitchcock if they were both still alive. And while the follow-up 'Deconstruction' is dancier and more upbeat, you still get that creepy violin break at the end of the bridge, and then the song ends with a major shift, an almost sorrow-filled piano outro.
The album continues in this fashion, offering a myriad array of emotion and sound that is both stunning and familiar. From a deeply sincere 'Shiny Things' (reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem) to the punchy and playful 'Tightrope' to the dreamy rhythmic wonder of 'Feathers' and the melancholic power of 'Bones,' Fanfarlo has achieved something very few artist do: create a musically-variegated album that still houses the heart of the band inside every song.
Is 'A Flood' a reference to the next flood, the end of all things, death? This heartbreaking song leads right into the short piano outro 'Everything Resolves' reminding us that no matter how hard life gets, it all works out in the end. (Then hit 'Replicate' and start all over again.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Grows on you
21 Mar 2012
Format:Audio CD
I was a huge fan of the first album, as there's beauty in simplicity sometimes. I waited with trepidation for their second offering, having saw the early release video of Replicate on youtube. I watched and wondered what happened to that small indie band I fell in love with. The vocal delivery on Replicate kind of got on my nerves. Don't get me wrong the music is really good but that chopped talk delivery really had me wondering. Sophomore album, more money to work with, different direction, getting too popular, etc. Bought Rooms Filled With Light the day it came out and opened it up and played it immediately. My initial reaction after listening to the whole album, was uh-oh, there's only 3 or so good songs on here, this is not money well spent. So I shelved it for about a week or two. Dug it back out and gave it another spin. Its very obvious there is a ton more electronics on this album, is that a good thing? I'm still on the fence. I do know that I like this album a lot more than I previously thought. That being said I think there's only 6 really good songs out of the 12 on this album. Doesn't score as high as Reservoir, but that is a tough one to beat. The music on Replicate is good, just don't dig the vocals. Deconstruction is a bouncy little number, reminds me of New Order a bit. Lenslife has a lot of the same vocal stylings as Replicate but not as annoying, it's in the top 6. Shiny Things has to be the best song on the album, it's got a lot of their new electronic sound, while still sounding like Reservoir in atmosphere. Tunguska would be my number 2 favorite song, good composition, alto saxophones going, and really good harmonies between Simon and Cathy. Tightrope is another upbeat, bouncy number with some great bass lines. The last song in my top 6 is Feathers, after this song the remaining songs sound repetitive and forgetful (though Bones almost made it 7 out of 12). So even though I'm kind of bummed they didn't hit on all 12 songs on the album, it's a lot more than I initially thought I heard. There were a couple songs that grew on me, and take some listens (headphones help) to appreciate. Who knows maybe there will be a couple more songs on the list after more spins. All in all it's a good album, not Reservoir good, but good in the way that they need to grow and expand their sound as a band... yada, yada. Not hating on them by any means, but deserted island I'd pack up Reservoir instead.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Captivating effort from Fanfarlo
1 Mar 2012
OK, I'll be the first to review -- this is just a great set of songs, ones you'll either find yourself humming to in dreamy reverie, or skipping with down the street. Fanfarlo simply has the knack for feel-good music, and can't we all use some these days?? I put this a step above Reservoir, as good as that album was, because Fanfarlo have now found the breadth and maturity to step out of the rather narrow (though thoroughly engaging) folk/pop bandwidth they put forward in their previous release, into something wonderful in many more dimensions. Here's hoping they continue in that same trajectory for years to come.
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