zach condon is an interesting guy. at 25, zach (a product of new mexico) has dropped out of high school, travelled around europe, gone on to community college, then on to university, and somehow managed to release 4 incredibly rich albums steeped in worldly influences, and performed with a maturity far beyond his own years. each album has been one to behold and almost marvel at times, for it is exceedingly rare to find someone who, at the age of 19, could perfectly capture the soul of balkan folk music so much so that he could record an entire album of it after only discovering this form of music one year before. it should also be noted, that this wasn’t an album of balkan folk music covers, but an album of original material that was so true to the source material that it could easily pass off as such. starting as a one man band, beirut soon became a full fledged group effort. with their next two albums, beirut did the very same thing with different influences. while ‘gulag orkestar’ managed to evoke the sounds of eastern europe, ‘flying club cup’ did so with the music of france, and ‘march of the zapotec’ ran deep with mexican influence. all of these albums seem to culminate in beirut’s latest release, ‘the rip tide.’ for the very first time, zach wrote an album that was not a direct tribute to any one style of music, but rather the first that actually felt like it belonged solely to beirut. it really is a perfect slice, showcasing many different influences and directions, all harnessed into a lovely package. it’s easily their best yet, and ‘the rip tide’ is an album that also manages to make one immensely excited for what the future has in store. check out the first song off the new album below.
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