Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Fanfarlo

Fire Escape / We Live By The Lake

Label: White Heat Release Date: 18/06/2007

25088
charlesubaghs by Charles Ubaghs June 22nd, 2007

David Bowie apparently loves this lot. And given that he deleted Goldie’s number from his mobile a long time ago and started to pal around with Arcade Fire, it’s pretty easy to understand why (though don’t expect us to forgive you for Tin Machine, David).

Fanfarlo are a London band who, probably in no small part thanks to Swedish lead singer Simon Aurell, play the type of melancholic uplifting indie most recently perfected by the likes of Loney, Dear, or early Concretes. They’ve got that Scandinavian orchestral pop thing nailed down to near textbook standards.

_ ‘Fire Escape’_ comes to life with a sprinkle of Grandaddy synths at the start before sweeping strings and a horn come crashing in to slap some dramatic meat on a song that would otherwise sound like it had been underfed and left out in the cold._ ‘We Live By the Lake’_ follows almost exactly the same formula, but this time the sad horns are moved to the beginning before the pounding drums are brought in, creating that introspective yet somehow epic feel that works so well as the soundtrack to sports highlight reels.

Starting to see a pattern? These songs may not win high marks for innovation, but breakout the armchair and old blanket, because their pleasant enough nature should make perfect sense on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

  • 7
    Charles Ubaghs's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing



Left-arrow

Best Fwends

Alphabetically Arranged

Mobback
25096
25089

Taxi Taxi!

Taxi Taxi!

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
MORE


    feature


    Radiohead's Kid A - the DiS re-appraisal

  • 101472
  • Discography Reassessed


    Oeuvre Here: An 18 Album Voyage Through Ringo S...

  • 100438

    Interview


    "We became seminal for doing nothing": DiS meet...

  • 88284
  • feature


    The Critic Sleeps Alone Tonight... Fighting Ove...

  • 93699

    Interview


    From The Basement On A Television: DiS talks to...

  • 50010
  • feature


    "The Strokes fucking suck!" - DiS meets Steve A...

  • 59630

    feature


    Elliott Smith 10yrs Gone: DiS' editor on the br...

  • 93253
  • Label focus


    Label Focus #7: 4AD

  • 92958
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND