At the beginning of The Walls Are Coming Down, the groups current single, Leon Beckenham, playing that instrument, steers the song with a countermelody thats somehow both lethargic and triumphant while the singer Simon Balthazar muses on the descent of the would-be exorcist Pellegrino Ernetti. All in all, the horn tells the better tale.
Fanfarlo: The British band performing at the Bowery Ballroom. Leon Beckenham, Cathy Lucas, Simon Balthazar, Justin Finch and Jeremy Warmsley and drummer Amos Memon.
And so it went on Monday night at the Bowery Ballroom: Mr. Balthazar spinning yarns steeped in history from the bands debut album, Reservoir (Canvasback/Atlantic), to be released next month, and, in places, Mr. Beckenham poking his trumpet through the bands haze to tell the true story.
Fanfarlo is a slightly unwieldy outfit. In addition to Mr. Balthazar and Mr. Beckenham, it includes Cathy Lucas, who plays violin and mandolin and sings harmony; the drummer Amos Memon; and the bassist Justin Finch. (Here, the band was joined by the guitarist Jeremy Warmsley.) Collectively, they have a homespun quality, as if still learning how to make do. Three band members played mandolin over the course of the show. Three played drums. On one song Mr. Balthazar put down his guitar and picked up a clarinet. Glockenspiel was used to dramatic effect. A melodica made an appearance.
The result is a quasi-symphonic indie rock in the vein of Arcade Fire. But really Fanfarlo recalls Beirut, the Gypsy-folk miniorchestra, with its emphasis on melancholy, rustic harmonies, though without the blatant culture scavenging. (As if to drive home the parallel, Fanfarlo was joined for two songs by Jon Natchez, who has played with Beirut, on accordion and alto clarinet.) Fitting the mood, band members, the men at least, dressed like extras in There Will Be Blood: flannels, suspenders, tight suit vests. (Ms. Lucass red high-waisted pants were a welcome splash of primary color.)
But Fanfarlos songs, while alluring, had a similarly weathered texture. The harmonies between Mr. Balthazar and Ms. Lucas are pretty but monotone, and often the group appears skittish about dynamics, every member coalescing around one sound. When it varied from form, Fanfarlo seemed full of possibility. Mr. Beckenham enlivened Finish Line, which morphed into a bluegrass song, and Luna was the nights fastest, with the band veering from loud to soft and back again.
