In Stores Now: March of the Zapotec/Holland by Beirut

Illustration by John Bauer from Bland Tomtar Och Troll, 1915

Beirut is more or less a one-man project, not a band, even though it sounds more like a band than most bands. At the center of Beirut is Zach Condon, a 23-year-old wunderkind who really has a lot to offer. He may not be able to play guitar because of a wrist injury, but he makes up for it by playing plenty of other instruments (ukulele, trumpet, keyboard, etc.) He also has a gift for blending traditional styles of music with pop conventions, mixing baroque strings with martial horns and folky melodies. He also has a distinctive baritone voice and knows how to make the most of his range. And he happens to be a fairly good-looking guy as well, which is a nice bonus. With all that going for him, Beirut sounds like a sure thing, and they have put out two very solid albums. The one conspicuous shortcoming I hear in those albums, though, is that Condon does not write great lyrics. And his delivery communicates that he knows that he doesn't write great lyrics.

Beirut released a new two-EP set recently, and I was anxious to see if Condon had put some work into the lyrical side of his songs. However, it seems like he's retreated from the issue rather than confronting it, and the EPs are a little disappointing as a result. It doesn't help that each of the EPs is pretty short in the run-time department, too. The first EP, March of the Zapotec, was largely recorded in Mexico with an amateur funeral band. It sounds interesting, but three of the six tracks on the EP are short instrumental interludes that don't leave much of an impression. Only one of the three full tracks is really memorable - one song features a long wordless chorus, and another has a single verse that is followed by a long instrumental outro.

The other EP, Holland is made up of largely electronic home recordings that hearken back to Condon's early unreleased recordings. These songs are more successful overall but are similarly weak in the lyric department. The best tracks are those that blend his early synth sounds with his more recent folk approach. "Venice" and "The Concubine" are the tracks that do this best, and they are the most interesting and innovative compositions in the set. I was initially disappointed with this release, but, once I had burned both EPs onto a single disc, I found that it makes a satisfying (if lopsided) album-length listen. Especially when I appended the collection with Beirut's excellent Lon Gisland from a few years ago.

"The Concubine" by Beirut