(photo: Myspace)

I’m not always sure how to approach discussing the music of Beirut (the band, not the city) because I don’t think I have the right knowledge of the musical and cultural inspirations behind it.  It’s not really ethno-pop, because it doesn’t sound like our modern version of pop music, but one would guess that in a previous era, somewhere in this great big world of ours, these songs could have been standards sung by rag-tag collectives in smokey bars, and out-of-the-way drinking establishments.  Zach Condon’s musical taste is as foreign to me as a bar of sop is to a cave man.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Condon’s unique blend of cultural influences and modern music aesthetics.  His latest double-EP release, March of the Zapotec and Holland, continues it’s globe-crossing amazing musical race with a stop in Mexico, where Condon recorded March of the Zapotec with Oaxacan march masters The Jimenez Band.  It’s a brass-filled, marching epic that you could easily imagine hearing at background music for a bull fight as easily as it can soundtrack your Saturday morning laundry chores.  Condon’s easy turn of melodic phrase makes it an unhurried and sometimes lazy affair, which is quite alright considering most of the instrumentation lends itself to bigger, chaotic arrangements that would overpower the listener.

The same vibe carries through the 180 degree-turn on the Holland EP, which showcases the other extreme of Condon’s songwriting, as the bedroom knob-twiddling Realpeople (Condon’s muscial alter ego).  It is a  contrast of musical styles that at first seem oddly paired, but as you move into the second set of electronic-infused tracks, the commonalities and throughlines begin to show.  This too is a slow, methodical set of songs that have quite a bit going on in terms of textures and layers, but they aren’t clogged up to the point of being over-done.  “Venice” really stands apart, like a trip through the night sky, or the soundtrack to a dream you only half remember.  Until Condon’s signature vocals come in, you really would never guess he was the one behind the music.

I think the tendency is going to be to look at these two EPs as individual releases (considering they’re technically by two individual musical projects), but I think that takes something away from the overall project.  While being very different and individual in their own right, imagining these two recordings at the flipsides to a whole album worth of material, it becomes an oddly enjoyable whole listening experience.  A yin and yang, if you will, of Zach Condon’s musical mind.

MP3: Beirut “My Wife” (from the EP March of the Zapotec)
MP3: Beirut “No Dice” (from the EP Holland)
Myspace: Beirut
Buy: Beirut March of the Zapotec/Holland EPs