The name Tap Tap may conjure up images of either a group of twee Swedish indiepop minstrels to some, or - judging by the meticulously-illustrated elephant on the album's front sleeve - perhaps a world music or folk collective. The musical comparisons aren't a million miles off, perhaps; but there's no Polyphonic Spree-style platoon behind this moniker. What's more, Tap Tap is a side project, its sole protagonist Tom Sanders spending most of his days as lead singer of little-known UK indie outfit Pete and the Pirates. The result of his mutinous indiscretion is Lanzafame, an album that's already been hailed by some as the sleeper hit of 2007, and one which will surely see the independently-signed Sanders gain the same sort of popular indie success as the likes of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Wolf Parade. Though none of the arrangements on Lanzafame are as ornate or as lavish as either of those bands, the Reading native's tenuous vocals stretch the same boundaries as Alec Ounsworth's, and his wry lyrical prowess ('You smile like a lady / You drink like a boy') induce similar smirks to those of Spencer Krug. Refusal to submit to Tap Tap's charm is futile from the off; 100,000 Thoughts reels the listener in with its sweet little acoustic intro, simplistic charm and evocations-of-sunny-summer-holidays riff; She Doesn't Belong, a lo-fi cover of a Pete and the Pirates track, is a bittersweet, jangly little ditty, and To Our Continuing Friendship bubbles under with glorious harmonies that shyly swagger forth. It's not only current bands that Sanders' sound coincides with, though: there's a definite Kinks beat to the gravelly rattle of Here Cometh, and Off the Beaten Track's mod-like stomp could be an early Who outtake. The general ethos on Lanzafame seems to be one of minimum instrumentation, maximum experimentation - and it's an ethos that's executed in a thoroughly irresistible fashion. Watch this one grow.
