Cool Album Out This Week: Beirut - "Gallipoli"
I have not heard much of this band, but after some preliminary exploring, I definitely think I've been missing out. Beirut seem like an average indie group on the outside, but digging deep into their aesthetic has shown me a fascinating uniqueness. Don't miss out on this week's cool album - - - - - - -
Both Beirut and "Gallipoli" are names of places, and these geographical references abound the song titles as well: Mainau Island, Giardini, and Corfu are directly referenced. However, the multiculturalism extends far beyond the name gimmick. Sonically, Beirut often resembles a European street band, churning out blissful, melodic tunes with instruments not often found in American music. Had one of these groups been put in a studio with modern technologies at their disposal, they might sound something like Beirut. The band marks no boundary between modern sonic experimentation and the sound drifting on an Italian breeze. Within this fusion, Gallipoli works on levels of both album cohesion and individual track quality for a solid release of warm, resonant music.
Multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon plays mostly the ukulele and flugelhorn live, but on Gallipoli, his main outlet for writing and recording was a marriage of synthesizers and his own Farfisa organ. This electronic organ controls the feel of the album, with many other instruments and sounds coalescing in each song. This organ marks a stronger attachment to Condon's earlier music, as opposed to the indie pop fusion of his last two releases. On his fourth album and first for 4AD entitled No No No, co-producer Gabe Wax (The War on Drugs engineer) seemed to come close to righting the Beirut ship, but the results tried too hard to balance both worlds of Beirut. Finally, all the pieces have come together on this 2019 album, bringing back all the strongest elements of every Condon release to form one of his best ever.
I am sure his second Beirut album, The Flying Cup Club (2007), will always be considered the best - it is a great album that is very unique for its time and seems to fuse every aspect of his inspiration beautifully. Texturally, this album exceeds all of his past creations: the yearning ballad "Gallipoli" contrasts with a pulsing beat and brass interjection, while later complementing the acoustic-driven instrumental "Corfu" and the slow and persistent build-up of "Landslide." Every song shows a unique side of Condon's writing, which is focused on mood as much as the song itself. As well, the ukulele-and-vocals masterpiece "Varieties of Exile" seems to balance every aspect of Condon's personality, and to me shows one of his best-composed songs yet.
Both Beirut and "Gallipoli" are names of places, and these geographical references abound the song titles as well: Mainau Island, Giardini, and Corfu are directly referenced. However, the multiculturalism extends far beyond the name gimmick. Sonically, Beirut often resembles a European street band, churning out blissful, melodic tunes with instruments not often found in American music. Had one of these groups been put in a studio with modern technologies at their disposal, they might sound something like Beirut. The band marks no boundary between modern sonic experimentation and the sound drifting on an Italian breeze. Within this fusion, Gallipoli works on levels of both album cohesion and individual track quality for a solid release of warm, resonant music.
Multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon plays mostly the ukulele and flugelhorn live, but on Gallipoli, his main outlet for writing and recording was a marriage of synthesizers and his own Farfisa organ. This electronic organ controls the feel of the album, with many other instruments and sounds coalescing in each song. This organ marks a stronger attachment to Condon's earlier music, as opposed to the indie pop fusion of his last two releases. On his fourth album and first for 4AD entitled No No No, co-producer Gabe Wax (The War on Drugs engineer) seemed to come close to righting the Beirut ship, but the results tried too hard to balance both worlds of Beirut. Finally, all the pieces have come together on this 2019 album, bringing back all the strongest elements of every Condon release to form one of his best ever.
I am sure his second Beirut album, The Flying Cup Club (2007), will always be considered the best - it is a great album that is very unique for its time and seems to fuse every aspect of his inspiration beautifully. Texturally, this album exceeds all of his past creations: the yearning ballad "Gallipoli" contrasts with a pulsing beat and brass interjection, while later complementing the acoustic-driven instrumental "Corfu" and the slow and persistent build-up of "Landslide." Every song shows a unique side of Condon's writing, which is focused on mood as much as the song itself. As well, the ukulele-and-vocals masterpiece "Varieties of Exile" seems to balance every aspect of Condon's personality, and to me shows one of his best-composed songs yet.
The Verdict:
Not every song on Gallipoli is a winner, but taken as a whole the album makes for an effective mood piece. After repeated listens, some songs do stand out as surprisingly strong single entities, an aspect readily demonstrating the album's multi-leveled appeal. While the folky appeal akin to Fleet Foxes is long in the past, fans of Grizzly Bear's sonic array and Andrew Bird's folk-pop will certainly love the genre-defying indie phenomenon of Beirut. Rarely does a group effectively ride the line between American and World music, between acoustic and electronic, and between restraint and progression.
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