Beirut Album: “Flying Club Cup”

Listening to The Flying Cup Club crystallized an old memory from my undergraduate college days (long, long ago). I was taking a philosophy course on aesthetics. On the first day, the professor asked: "What separates animals from people?"

Some of the class resorted to an answer that relied on biology, which was the same thing as answering "nothing." Some said tool use was a distinctive trait of people. This was just plain wrong. They had forgotten watching chimps on nature documentaries use grass stalks to fish termites out of their mounds. I also didn't have a good answer. Class dismissed without a valid response. Only while walking away from class that afternoon did the answer occur to me: art. Art is the one activity that differentiates humans from the rest of the living world.

The work of Beirut is a monument to humanity's claim of singularity. It conveys a deep sense of longing that transmutes a morning commute in a used sedan into a beautiful event. It draws inspiration from a reality that claims civility as a virtue and talent as the key to success. It is a reality we need. Go buy it.

This is their second LP release, and by far their best release to date.

Critics are quick to say Beirut's sound is Euro-stylized by influences like Jacques Brel and François Hardy. They're eager to compare the band's frontman, Zach Condron, to Scott Walker. It won't be long before they liken Beirut to the Tindersticks had Stuart Staples turned queer.

But "The Flying Club Cup" proved Zach Condon has developed a musical style beyond compare.

Whereas "Gulag Orkestar" showed that the self-ordained small time American band could meld Macedonian folk sounds with romantic classical European music stylings and bourgeoise bohemian sophistication, "The Flying Club Cup" uses this melded sound as the departure point toward a far more striking occurrence: style defined without subculture.

Timeless, ageless, genderless, cultureless, songs like "Cliquot" and "The Penalty" make "The Flying Club Cup" an album that could have come out of almost any place in the world at any point in history.

But it's not just universal in those senses. Perhaps because of frontman Zach Condon's sophisticated, mature air and voice, it was refreshing and unexpected to hear him sing such honest lyrics about love. It was, well, sweet. Better yet, it is why I think "The Flying Club Cup" is nothing short of genius.

In sum, "The Flying Club Cup": Beirut's balkan-gypsy-folk-french-euro-pop music style renowned in their first LP release, made even better with more mature lyrics for the young at heart.

I absolutely fell in love with THE GULAG ORKESTAR when I was first introduced to it a little over a year ago. The beautiful Balkan melodies, the sad, nostalgic sense the songs gave you (especially the first half of the album).

When I listened to the LON GISLAND EP next, I was somewhat disappointed. It didn't have anywhere near the same power, the same emotional effect Condon's former album did. I fell out of touch. Finally, I was reintroduced a month or so ago by a friend, who gave me a copy of THE FLYING CLUB CUP. I'm hooked. This is one hell of an album. In many ways, it is even better than GULAG; it is sonorous and melodious and full of those same complex emotions that made the first album so enchanting.

Condon has really done something great here. This blend of European and American sounds is truly fresh and beautiful!

This review comes a little late seeing as I purchased this CD several years ago. There is something very special about this band and its revival of this type of music. The dynamic of instruments used in each song is also very impressive.

However I cant say this music is for everyone. I tried sharing it with a few other people who felt it wasnt good because you couldnt "dance" to it. Others told me each song sounded the same.

Granted this is not the type of music to impress your average pop princess so much as it stirs the imagination. If you have ever paused at the sound of Edith Piaf singing La Vie En Rose on a grainy record, feeling as though you were transported back in time to a culture and language you never belonged to... Beirut goes about creating the same sort of magic.

I urge you to watch Beirut's "Elephant Gun" which sets the stage to a sort of ongoing party thats part circus and part lingerie party. Beirut wants to seduce you the old fashioned way.

In conclusion, this music may not impress all people however it is a refreshing break from all things on the radio.

There is something about this CD full of unique indie songs that sweetly tugs at the memory and spirit. The sound of the group Beirut is like what one might imagine if you crossed a crew of gypsies with French bistro troubadours. The result is unlike any thing I have ever heard before. Their music is marbled with swirls of strings, horns, accordion,percussion sounding like tub thumping, all while above it floats the lead ropey tenor of Zach Condon, founder of Beirut. The lyrics and instruments especially in "Nantes" and "Sunday Smile" will transport you to the streets and cabarets of Paris in a bygone era. There is not one song which does not work it's magic on the listener. One feels as if you have taken a tour somewhere back through the crooked gallic alleys of time and you do not want it to end. Anything that is able to do this is surely great art!