Zach Condon debuted his indie-folk project Beirut in 2005, and though he expanded it from a solo project to a full-fledged band in 2006, he’s continued to work with the same building blocks that made his earliest bedroom recordings so beguiling: sparse ukulele strumming, ornate horn arrangements influenced by eastern-European folk music, and arresting vocals that strike a balance between heavenly and funereal. The most noticeable musical evolution on Beirut’s brand-new fifth album, Gallipoli (4AD), is the addition of synthetic, water-logged Farfisa notes, which open the title track.…
Zach Condon debuted his indie-folk project Beirut in 2005, and though he expanded it from a solo project to a full-fledged band in 2006, he’s continued to work with the same building blocks that made his earliest bedroom recordings so beguiling: sparse ukulele strumming, ornate horn arrangements influenced by eastern-European folk music, and arresting vocals that strike a balance between heavenly and funereal. The most noticeable musical evolution on Beirut’s brand-new fifth album, Gallipoli (4AD), is the addition of synthetic, water-logged Farfisa notes, which open the title track.…