I know I said the first review would be coming up soon, but I didn't expect it to be this quickly. I had a bit of time on my hands though, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling.
For my first review, I'm going to be taking a look at Gulag Orkestar, the debut album from Zach Condon's Balkan indie/folk band from New Mexico, Beirut. The album was released back in May 2006, so its a bit of an old one. I only discovered it three days ago, though, and it's already become a firm favourite.
Beirut were formed by Zachary Condon in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2006, after staying with his cousin in Europe and becoming influenced by Eastern European and Balkan folk music. The majority of the music for Gulag Orkestar was written by Zach in his bedroom, created with help from Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel) and Heather Trost (A Hack and A Hacksaw) then published under the Ba Da Bing! record label.
The music on the album has been likened to a slightly drunken gypsy parade, or that which workers in some imagined Eastern Bloc factory would listen to when relaxing after a hard day of toiling for "Peace, Bread and Land" for the proletariat. The album, with its use of loping percussion, majestic, melancholic brass, plucky highlights from ukulele or banjo, and lyrics sung through an acrobatic, and above all, genuine voice, make for a heady, original and mostly enjoyable mix of Western pop music and traditional Eastern European folk. Sometimes Condon's lack of experience of life in the places which have provided his inspiration show in lyrics that don't always ring true or themes that are a little vague, but this does little to diminish the effect of the album as a whole.
The title track opens the album and sets the tone with deep piano and slow, slightly despondent horns that fade away, to be replaced by a foot stamping march which leads into 'Prenzlauerberg', an accordion filled and percussion heavy waltz that establishes just how different and "foreign" Gulag is to the usual indie rock debut. The music makes me feel like I should have just come off a work line making tanks in Serbia, to drown my sorrow's in vodka at the nearest Comrades Club. The album moves through 'Brandenburg', another march that instantly seizes you with the desire to beat the ground with your feet and demand freedom from the bourgeois world of Western music, and into what is, for me , the standout track of the album, the liltingly magnificent 'Postcards From Italy'.
The regal trumpets and horns, tinkling ukulele and rattling percussion, overlaid with Condon's agile, Jeff Buckley-esque drawl, come together to create a captivating, beautiful tale of love and death. This definitely is my favourite track on the album, cheerful yet somehow sad, majestic and thoroughly enjoyable, and it gives me chills every time I hear those first few opening cords. Sometimes I really just don't want the song to finish. Florence and the Machine did a cover of this song as a B-side to their single 'Kiss With A Fist', so they clearly didn't either.
After the brilliance of 'Postcards From Italy', the second half of the album does tend to appear not quite as good as the first. It is redeemed though, by both the slow, relaxing beat and blaring trumpets of 'The Canals of Our City', and the surprising, synth laden tracks 'Scenic World' and 'After The Curtain'. These should stick out like a sore thumb amongst the acoustics of the rest of the album, but somehow they don't. Instead, 'Scenic World' is a joyful interlude amongst the darker tone of 'Rhineland' and the heavy march of 'Bratislava'. And Condon's slightly haunting croon in 'After The Curtain' serves to round off what was a brilliant debut for Beirut.
Overall, I totally love Gulag Orkestar. The mixture of the beauty and powerful themes of Balkan folk, together with Zach Condon's brilliant voice, perfectly matched to the music he makes, make an amazing album that I would seriously recommend to anyone into indie, folk or acoustic music. Or into music at all, for that matter. Beirut have since gone on to release a second album, The Flying Club Cup. It's an excellent follow up to Gulag, and I strongly suggest that you check out both that and the Beirut EP's for some incredible listening that, if you're anything like me, you will love each and every time you hear it.
Scores (out of 10)
Lyrics: 6
Vocals: 9
Instrumentals: 7
Album arrangement:8
Overall: 8
Favourite track: Postcards From Italy
By Nathan Murphy
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