Beirut Brings American-Made European Sound to New York
By Laura Cooper Not many bands based out of New Mexico can make Balkan music rivaling that of gypsies and still have twenty-somethings waltzing on a Monday night. However, not all bands have the character or innovative quality of Beirut. Zach Condon, 21, started Beirut as a solo project about a year ago out of his bedroom in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with beat-up instruments and a lack of equipment. Inspired by his travels through Eastern Europe after dropping out of high school at 16, Condon wrote and recorded what would become Beirut’s debut album, Gulag Orkestar. The record received rave reviews from various media outlets and exploded on the music blog scene. Condon, who has a voice that can be compared to that of Bing Crosby, put together a touring band following in the footsteps of indie-folk superstar Sufjan Stevens (who also plays all his own instruments) and launched their first tour at the Knitting Factory in New York in 2006. The touring band has grown from four to six members, including Jason Poranski who has been with Condon from the beginning. “We’re like a family,” Poranksi explained, “Zach writes all of his songs in New Mexico but he comes back here and we arrange them together.” Beirut certainly looked like a family during their show at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, part of the Wordless Music Series, on Sept. 24. They came out in true fashion like a band of stragglerslooking unwashed in jeans and tee shirts, as if they had just gotten off the subway themselves. The venue, an old church, made the perfect stage for a band that has a definitively original sound that would most likely be unwelcome in the mainstream arenas dotting the Times Square area. Poranksi—keyboard, guitar and ukulele player among countless other instruments—said he wasn’t sure whether Beirut could achieve Billboard success. “I don’t know,” he said, “Zach’s music is hot, so it’s possible.” Beirut is currently on a world tour playing everywhere from Princeton, New Jersey to Paris, France, which is fitting; the band’s latest album, The Flying Club Cup, is highly influenced by French culture. At the concert, their latest single, “A Sunday Smile,” sent the otherwise poised crowd at the Wordless Music Series into a chorus after a band member instructed, “Sing like the choirs you appear to be, you may make a friend!” However this song didn’t get anywhere near the reaction to the well-received single from their first album, “Postcards from Italy.” This, the encore, sent the pew-seated audience up to the stage where they kneeled and danced to the ukulele and trumpet dominated melody. Beirut’s signature brass sound came through in the piece as it does in the title song from Gulag Orkestar. According to Poranski the main difference between Beirut’s live show and record is that “there aren’t enough people to represent the strings section. You can’t fit a hundred musicians on one stage.” However the audience didn’t seem to notice the lack of strings. Possibly due to random couples waltzing on the balcony, Beirut has a definitive quality that can take their listeners back to a European past--Impressive for a New Mexico based musician who recorded his first album in his parent’s home at nineteen. The Flying Club Cup is set for release in the US on Oct. 9 on Ba Da Bing Records. Further information about Beirut can be found on their website, beirutband.com, and their MySpace. |
