Reviewed by:
deluxity, on august 01, 2008
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Sound: Beirut it's a trip to europe folklore turned into music, bringing the eastern sounds to the west, which is a complete new experience for some of us, this is the proyect of a young man named zach condon, who travelled trough europe by himself when he was 16 capturing the escence of the continent in his tunes. All the instruments are played by him, trumpet, violin, cello, piano accordion, french horn and many many more. Condon decided to experiment using more brass intruments instead of relying only on trumpets (which is distinctive in beirut last album Gulag Orkestar) also using the organ and piano instead of focusing in the ukulele, bringing an epic sound, completely fresh for our ears. Almost every song is based on a different french town, except by guyamas, sonora which is a mexican town (which is also mispelled and it's actually Guaymas, Sonora). // 10
Lyrics and Singing: Condon's characteristic "mumbling" singing, sometimes barely understandable gives you certain impression of him imitating european accents or even the actual languages, his powerful voice goes deep into you blending with the pompous string and brass arrangements in songs like "Cliquot" and full of joy in "Nantes". Lyrics are simple yet poetic, about dreams, life contemplation, love and sometimes just aprecciation to the old cultures in the european continent, for some reason makes you feel like your walking trough a small street in france or in a party at italy, daydreaming at full. // 9
Impression: There's really impressive moments in this album, specially with Condon's vocals, with such a brave tone, like a whole travel, an adventure!, with lows and downs. // 9
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