Nothing says summer more than a light, airy Beirut album pressing its lips on your ear. You can always rely on them to be delicately romantic and dancily instrumental. The sweet crooning of Zach Condon, the only good thing New Mexico ever gave us, matched with Balkan folk horns makes me want to put on a long, billowy skirt and kick off my shoes.
Apparently tinkering with fewer instruments this time around, Condon decided to stick with trumpet, ukulele, and piano on this album - instead of picking up a new instrument at every turn. These days he wants a little more clarity in his approach, fewer decisions to make. Until I read about this however, I hadn't noticed at all. I'm sure I heard many of these tracks in concert and while I knew they weren't familiar they fit in perfectly with their catalogue. I definitely recognize Goshen from their performance in McCarren Park this summer.
I've heard this album described as never running away with itself. They say Condon didn't use as much self indulgent instrumentation this time. I call shannanigans. I'm overtly intolerant of over-instrumentation, it puts me to sleep. Move that beat like you're moving a plot. That being said, I've never found Beirut to be anything but manageably instrumental. The trumpets, mandolin, flugelhorn and euphonium build, dip, bend, and soar. Never extemporaneous, they're undeniably the engine to Beirut's sound.
Beirut - Santa Fe
Other reviews say this album is more synchronized, Condon is finally giving us a more focused sound. More nonsense. What's happening is they gave us another incredible album and more folks are finally catching on. They like it and can't figure out why they didn't like it sooner. Condon was always incredible, these reviewers are just slow.
And, of course, the more people like Beirut the less Pitchfork will (went from Flying Club Cup's 8.0 to 7.7 for The Rip Tide). In their review of The Rip Tide, they seemed so bored they could barely even be bothered to talk about the album or the band, running off at the mouth about how everyone they liked, Owen Pallett, Arcade Fire, just aren't the same anymore ::sniffle:: From A Sunday Smile to Goshen, we're not dissatisfied at all.
Fun-fact: Beirut is huge in Brazil. Their song Elephant Gun was regularly played on a series called Capitu. Tribute bands sprung up all over and went Beiruting in the Square "Beirutando na Praça." In August 2009 tribute bands played on the streets in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador, Curitiba, and Lima. It was, obviously, a beautiful thing:
Personal Fun-fact: I fell in love with my boyfriend of 5 years to Gulag Orkestar summer 2006. I think the fact that I introduced him to it scored me HUGE points.
Whole album The Rip Tide is streaming on NPR this week, aren't you lucky?
Apparently tinkering with fewer instruments this time around, Condon decided to stick with trumpet, ukulele, and piano on this album - instead of picking up a new instrument at every turn. These days he wants a little more clarity in his approach, fewer decisions to make. Until I read about this however, I hadn't noticed at all. I'm sure I heard many of these tracks in concert and while I knew they weren't familiar they fit in perfectly with their catalogue. I definitely recognize Goshen from their performance in McCarren Park this summer.
I've heard this album described as never running away with itself. They say Condon didn't use as much self indulgent instrumentation this time. I call shannanigans. I'm overtly intolerant of over-instrumentation, it puts me to sleep. Move that beat like you're moving a plot. That being said, I've never found Beirut to be anything but manageably instrumental. The trumpets, mandolin, flugelhorn and euphonium build, dip, bend, and soar. Never extemporaneous, they're undeniably the engine to Beirut's sound.
Beirut - Santa Fe
Other reviews say this album is more synchronized, Condon is finally giving us a more focused sound. More nonsense. What's happening is they gave us another incredible album and more folks are finally catching on. They like it and can't figure out why they didn't like it sooner. Condon was always incredible, these reviewers are just slow.
And, of course, the more people like Beirut the less Pitchfork will (went from Flying Club Cup's 8.0 to 7.7 for The Rip Tide). In their review of The Rip Tide, they seemed so bored they could barely even be bothered to talk about the album or the band, running off at the mouth about how everyone they liked, Owen Pallett, Arcade Fire, just aren't the same anymore ::sniffle:: From A Sunday Smile to Goshen, we're not dissatisfied at all.
Fun-fact: Beirut is huge in Brazil. Their song Elephant Gun was regularly played on a series called Capitu. Tribute bands sprung up all over and went Beiruting in the Square "Beirutando na Praça." In August 2009 tribute bands played on the streets in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador, Curitiba, and Lima. It was, obviously, a beautiful thing:
Personal Fun-fact: I fell in love with my boyfriend of 5 years to Gulag Orkestar summer 2006. I think the fact that I introduced him to it scored me HUGE points.
Whole album The Rip Tide is streaming on NPR this week, aren't you lucky?
Sarah Rae is a freelance writer and
fiction editor for Prick of the Spindle. She lives and writes in Brooklyn. www.sarahrae.net
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