Album Review: Fallingham Fair - Songbook

Songbook. Fallingham Fair couldn't have come up with a more perfect title. In essence that's exactly what this second album is: a diverse and varied collection of the band's simplistic creations with the warmth and the daintiness of any classic novella, only in MP3 format rather than printing ink. That's not to say that it contains even a trace of blandness, instead Fallingham Fair have expanded beyond their Of Monsters And Men resemblance using gently-crafted harmonies, glittering keyboards and rustic guitar melodies to evoke memories of blissful summer festivals on this thirty minute acoustic spectacular.

 

With a lead guitarist who dreams of being both "in a rock band and worthless" and "a dancer on a 1940s swing night in the war" (talk about having your cake and eating it), Fallingham Fair have accomplished the arduous task of sounding authentic and familiar without becoming uninteresting as casually as they would make a cup of tea or put on a sweater. Wonderings, for example, is a theatrical knock-out, whilst the beautiful lead single Luck ascends effortlessly, all the way through to the jauntily anthemic chorus of Blinds Down. No wonder everybody's mad about them.

So the next time you switch on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, tune into Tom Robinson, or even pop out to get your bloomers washed, make sure you keep your ears open for the intricate gorgeousness of Fallingham Fair - a band just brimming with potential.