Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo
Simon Balthazar of Fanfarlo from 2014 by Sachyn Mital
Background information
Origin	London, UK
Genres	Indie rock, indie folk, alternative rock
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Canvasback Music, Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group New World Records
Website	Official site
Members	Cathy Lucas Justin Finch Leon Beckenham Simon Balthazar
Past members	Amos Memon Mark West Giles J Davis

Fanfarlo are a London-based indie/alternative band formed in 2006 by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. They fuse elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk using eclectic instrumentation including trumpet, violin, mandolin, musical saw, clarinet and saxophone. Since their formation they have released three studio albums and one EP.

The band, whose name comes from the Charles Baudelaire novella La Fanfarlo, started performing live in small London indie clubs in 2006, and released four limited edition 7" singles on London-based indie labels (one of which a split single with Sleeping States) throughout 2006–2008.

Their debut album Reservoir was recorded in October/November 2008 at Tarquin Studios, Connecticut, USA and was produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol). The album was released in February 2009 on the band's own label Raffle Bat and later licensed to the Atlantic imprint Canvasback, who released it in the UK and US in October 2009 and in Europe in April 2010.

Their single "The Walls Are Coming Down" was released during September 2009. The music video for the single was directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and features escape artist Roslyn Walker performing the Hanging Straitjacket Escape, a stunt first performed by Harry Houdini in the early 1900s. The stunt was also incorporated into the band's show at Webster Hall in New York on 19 December 2009 (this time by escape artist Michael Lee).