David Bowie is their number 1 celebrity fan, the ever on the ball Rough Trade Shop reckon they are the best British band they’ve heard in years, and everyone from the Drowned In Sound and the NME to Mojo and the Sunday Times are raving about the band and their debut album.

Yet they remain unsigned, funding this their self-released debut album with US producer Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) themselves. This either shows a distinct lack of taste amongst the UK A&R community, or maybe a firm determination on the band’s part to keep control of their own destiny for as long as possible. But don’t think that this shows a lack of ambition; this is big music, which probably explains why Snow Patrol chose the band to support them on their recent UK arena tour, including two sold-out nights at the O2 in London.

When it comes to musical reference points Sufjan Stevens, Zack Condon’s Beirut and The Decemberists all spring to mind, or maybe a darker, more baroque take on Belle and Sebastian. Current single “Drowning Men” and the propulsive “Luna” are reminiscent of a British Arcade Fire, while  “Harold T. Wilkins, or How To Wait For A Very Long Time” could easily be pre-Fear In Music Talking Heads. Their use of strings, brass, banjo, accordion and glockenspiels certainly sets them apart from the homogeneous ‘meat and two veg’ guitar rock that seems to characterise so much of the UK indie scene at the moment.

Reservoir is a staggeringly good debut, which is decidedly more inventive than the vast majority of records you’ll hear coming out of the UK in 2009, or anywhere else for that matter. If justice is done this album will sit alongside albums from Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent and Bat For Lashes at the top of both the critics and fans polls at the end of year.

You can click below to hear “Luna” from Reservoir…

…or watch the video for “Harold T. Wilkins, or How To Wait For A Very Long Time”…

The album is available now from iTunes for only £4.74, or on CD from the end of May. The first single from the album, “Drowning Men”, is out now on Moshi Moshi Music Club.

You see Fanfarlo playing a rare acoustic set at citizensound’s Notwork night at the Hospital on the 13th May.