Beirut: The Flying Club Cup

Label: Ba Da Bing!

We were a little alarmed that Zach Condon, a.k.a. Beirut, returned so quickly with a follow-up to last year’s monumentally successful Gulag Orkestar. He’s still a baby, after all (he still can’t legally get a drink at the Sound Fix Lounge), and he’s been touring heavily. No need to fear. With the voice of a disheartened gypsy trudging by foot through Eastern Europe, the youngster prodigy behind Beirut weaves his weighty emotions into wonderfully baroque songs on The Flying Club Cup. Since Gulag, Condon has developed as a musician, giving The Flying Cup Club stronger vocals, sharper lyrics and more distinctive, memorable melodies. Able to tweak and experiment, Condon’s traded in his trumpets for French horns and his ukulele for accordions and organs, to create a sometimes more jazzy, sometimes more classical sound. Slightly different, this album is equally as charming and old-worldly. It peaks with “A Sunday Smile,” which was written around the broken keys of an old organ in New Mexico, and “Nantes,” which turns broken-hearted nostalgia into rich sound worthy of a gentle head bob. (Margi)