YOU know you’ve arrived as a band when your fans include pop legend David Bowie.

Fortunately, Fanfarlo haven’t let it go to their heads. Seventies glam-rock style icon Bowie described the London collective as among his favourites – citing their “particular knack of being able to create uplifting music that’s blessed with a delicious melancholia”.

And that slightly strange, thought-provoking juxtaposition of light and dark – and wistful blend of British indie-rock and Americana – is what makes them one of the country’s most exciting acts.

Another fan is one Gary Lightbody, frontman of softcore stadium-fillers Snow Patrol, who hand-picked Fanfarlo to support them on their recent UK tour.

“It’s very flattering,” says violinist and keys player Cathy Lucas.

“And both David and Gary came across us through their own means. We don’t send nice little demos to long lists of famous people.”

Such is the buzz surrounding this eclectic bunch of multi-instrumentalists that work on their debut album Reservoir sparked a feeding frenzy on the part of the cooler record labels.

Rising above the melee, however, Cathy, singer Simon Balthazar, bass man Justin Finch, drummer Amos Memon, and trumpeter/ keyboardist Leon Beckenham took a braver route: DIY.

“It made sense to do it ourselves, explains Cathy. “After all, no label could do anything we couldn’t do ourselves.”

They called their cottage industry enterprise Raffle Bat (named after a gift given to a friend when she left work at a theatre).

“Yes, it was a bat with a raffle ticket in its mouth,” says Cathy enigmatically, reluctant to elaborate on what is clearly a band in-joke.

She has just arrived home in London’s gritty Dalston, after taking delivery of a batch of 500 of the band’s debut albums.

“We like to make things a bit special and unique, so they come with a pack of postcards and are all tied up with string – like little gifts,” she says.

“It proves it’s about more than music – it’s about an atmosphere.”

And what an atmosphere. It combines breezy pop with serious elements, expert musicianship and urgent vocals.

“We combine a few different elements that don’t usually go together – with a rich instrumental orchestral folk sort of thing, but in the studio we also play around with electronic bits and pieces.

“It’s upbeat in parts but the melancholy comes through in the lyrics, so there’s a combination of uplifting and dark themes.”

It is, I suggest, a thought-provoking mix.

“There’s no point sounding like the band at the pub,” she replies. “We are inspired by interesting music, and, at the end of the day, the idea is to create some kind of new thing. We certainly don’t fit into that ‘cool, skinny, noisy’ thing.”

So instead of posturing moodily with guitars, they muck around with saws, clarinets, cellos, mandolins, ukuleles, melodicas, and clap their hands and stamp their feet.

“We love to add instruments,” she adds. “Especially those that are easy to play.”

The band met, as Cathy explains, over the course of two years.

And from playing dodgy pub backrooms they soon found themselves playing one of Europe’s biggest venues – London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena.

“We played two dates there,” she gasps. “We were supporting Snow Patrol and that, for us at least, was the climax of the tour.

“It was very different from playing the smaller venues we were used to. There was something special about playing on a huge space and achieving a massive sound. It was also nice to have all that space – after all there are quite a lot of us.”

“We do still like small places, though, where we can crash into each other!”

And, unlike many support bands, who are practically ignored by the headliner, Lightbody remained captivated by Fanfarlo throughout the tour.

“Gary would watch us every night from the edge of the stage,” Cathy recalls, obviously touched by the experience. “It was amazing. His band were the best ever!

“And we shared a few bottles of vodka on tour, both before and after the gigs – as welcoming and parting gifts!”

They come back to earth with a show, on Tuesday at Oxford’s O2 Academy.

And if you like that, head to Steventon on July 25, when you’ll get another chance to see them at Truck Festival – the annual feel-good gathering at Steventon organised by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett.

“We love Truck, she sighs.

“It’s really intimate – and we know Joe who runs it. He even played along with us one day, and filled in when one of us was ill.

“He’s a lovely guy, and it’s always nice to catch up – especially at such a lovely little gathering.”

* Fanfarlo play the Oxford O2 Academy on May 26, supported by Jeremy Warmsley. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are £6. Go to ticketweb.co.uk * Truck Festival runs from July 25-26. See thisistruck.com for details.