Fanfarlo ‘Let’s Go Extinct’

Words by Dennis Ruhlin

Building on the solid success of their previous two albums, Fanfarlo’s third release, Let’s Go Extinct, combines their poppy-synth and melodramatic sounds into an ambitious, but really amusing ten-track album. It’s majestic and delicate at times, while dancey and really entertaining at other moments.

For anyone unfamiliar, the duo of Simon Balthazar and Cathy Lucas has that quintessential “indie” sound that’s so in right now. Strong, stringy male vocals backed by cool and sexy female vocals, complete with a couple of gnarly accents (they’re London-ers).

Let’s Go Extinct opens with “Life in the Sky”, an upbeat, ethereal track questioning life and its very existence. It’s a treat. It’s a walk through outer-space backed by wondrous melodies. It’s the return of Fanfarlo. Another stand out track, “A Distance”, features spacey synth that’s paired with Balthazar’s lyrics about looking beyond what we can see right in front of us. “It’s just a lot to swallow, I’ve got a lot to see, I’ve got a lot to share.” Don’t we all.

Normally when I hear ‘concept album’ I shy away, but I found their introspective tales on human beings and the “weirdness of people”, as Balthazar describes it, to be very approachable. Because after all, we’re all pretty fucking weird to people we don’t know.