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XPN Welcomes Fanfarlo and Robert Francis

Presented by First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia

March 31, 2010

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Fanfarlo is BLOWING UP! Selling out both Kungfu Necktie and then Johnny Brendas in advance. Hailing from London, they have been winning over audiences for years with a charming brand of indie pop-folk. Led by Swedish songwriter Simon Balthazar, Fanfarlo was formed in 2006, and soon began touring and steadily releasing new music. In 2008, the group headed to the studio to record their first full-length album - Reservoir, was released earlier this year. The band's style of indie pop feels familiar (Arcade Fire & Beirut) and yet very new. In addition to the normal lineup of drums, bass and guitars, the group employs an array of instruments ranging from keyboards and mandolin to horns.

The widely circulated story about Robert Francis, apocryphal as it might be, is that he was, at the age of 9, given his first guitar by Ry Cooder. If anything did rub off on Francis with this exchange, it is the languorous, dusty tone that shines through a good chunk of Cooder’s work. Take that away and what is left is the glossy reverb-heavy sound that makes up much of the roots-y rock coming out of L.A. of late. What helps Francis stand out from that congested pack, however, is an appreciable lightness of touch. Even the most upbeat songs, like the rambling lead single “Junebug” or the heat vapors of “I Like The Air”, would be trenchant stompers in lesser hands, but here are wrapped in a smoky atmospherics befitting songs born in a city of smog and wildfires.