On A Fire Escape

SXSW is going to begin it's week of music tomorrow and naturally people are aflutter about all the new music. I happened to come across the London group Fanfarlo through the "All Songs Considered" NPR show and David Bowie loves them so they'll be popular soon enough. They sound nothing like David Bowie though. The sound is something like those various folk inspired multi-instrumental alternative bands out there, but if those bands were more obviously pop, more intimate and a little more joyous. "Fire Escape" is probably the most poppy/least folky song I've heard from them, but it's fantastic. It's one of those songs that's uplifting and jubilant, while also feeling melancholic. Oh, it also has whistling and I have yet to hear a song with whistling that I didn't love.

Listen to it at Hype Machine

Or download it from SXSW.