By Pete Donahue

For a person who has recently really gotten into Beirut, the release of the March of the Zapotec and Holland EP’s couldn’t have come at a better time. Unfortunately, Zach Condon lost me at the March.

A collection of six songs recorded in Mexico with the Jimenez Band, the first EP manages to capture the spirit of Mexican music via the horns, but leaves me looking for a lot more. Opener “El Zocalo” is a 29-second snippet that sounds like it was taken during a huge celebration (such as a wedding), with its loud, layered horn section and crashing cymbals. Musically, there is much going on, but it’s also misleading in terms of the shape of things to come with the rest of the album, which doesn’t come across has celebratory-sounding.

“La Llorona” sounds like a Balkan lament march, backed by an “oompah-oompah” tuba and marching band snare. Condon’s signature croon sounds great as he wails “And all it takes to fall/If you don’t walk, might as well crawl.”

Then comes “My Wife,” an instrumental that sounds like an eastern European orchestra jamming with a Mexican horn section. Unfortunately, the song doesn’t really go anywhere, yet gives the impression it was supposed to be sung over. Perhaps for reasons unknown, vocals were never recorded, so the song was released as is (see: The Smiths’ “Oscillate Wildly”).

“The Akara” is a bit more funky and relies less on the tuba and more on the horns, ukulele, and percussion. Though it takes almost two minutes before Condon’s voice enters, it’s a nice wait, as he sings “I’ve been saved before/I’m saved once more,” sounding like the Beirut I have grown to really appreciate.

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But where “The Akara” musically sounds upbeat, “On a Bayonet” re-enters somber territory with a another blast horns, yet doesn’t
offer much to remember. Clocking in at less than two minutes, it feels more like an interlude than a song.

March of the Zapotec ends with “The Shrew,” a fun tune about a woman it appears Condon encountered on his European travels. “Once her eyes covered in flies/The pain she no longer disguised,” he reveals. Though the song starts off with the now-very familiar tuba line, it blows up into a more intense ditty that conjures up images of a bull charging a matador continuously, unaware the kill is near-imminent.

With the Holland EP, performed under Condon’s Realpeople moniker, the musical direction goes in a complete direction. Holland is almost entirely devoid of the world music elements Beirut offers and instead is a collection of synth-pop bedroom recordings. So fans of Owl City and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone are in for a real treat, but Beirut fans may not be so amused.

“My Night with a Prostitute from Marseille” has some bright little keyboards and drum machine shuffles, but also contains great, clear vocals, not lost in the mix like some of the Zapotec songs. “And I won’t lie/I kept you here tonight,” he admits. While there aren’t many lyrics, the singing is top-notch (as I’ve found with pretty much every Zach Condon song). “My Wife, Lost in the Wild” is another Sega Genesis-sounding drone, yet saved by more impressive vocals. Here, Condon layers his voice to a choir-like territory, with sometimes three different vocal parts. “You’ll send your heart to me” is my favorite lyric and it sounds even better as he harmonizes over himself.

I swear the electronic new-age sounds of “Venice” were taken right from a video game’s closing credits off of a Super Nintendo game in the early 90’s, but the song is more interesting than that because there is more instrumentation, with strings and trumpet added to give a more complete feel.

As “Venice” has a much more interesting instrumental approach than the previous Holland songs, “The Concubine” continues the trend with a catchy electric organ underbelly (you can actually hear him pushing down on the keys if you listen closely) and a wonderful bright xylophone up in the mix. The chorus adds a good snare march and the song opens up in sound, as if there were a large band backing Condon in his bedroom (or wherever he recorded the song). “The Concubine” is Holland’s best track and saves the EP from being written-off.

Holland’s closer, “No Dice,” is a forgettable 80’s cheese dance instrumental that sounds fit for Napoleon Dynamite’s closing credits.

As a Beirut fan, the EP’s have me scratching my head a bit because I’m still not sure what to make of the releases. I appreciate the horn-driven, Mexican-influenced approach to writing, but I feel some of the ideas on Zapotec are incomplete. While there’s definitely talent in Condon’s arrangements, the songs seem to blend into one and don’t really distinguish themselves, tarnishing what individual bright spots there are.

Aside from Condon’s vocals, Holland didn’t really strike me as interesting sans “The Concubine.” I think it’d be actually great if Holland’s vocals were done over the Zapotec songs. Considering the second EP is very different from other Beirut material, it makes perfect sense why it’s technically not a Beirut record. And I’m absolutely all for artists putting out stuff that sounds very different from their “main” act, so I won’t say Holland is total crap.

I appreciate Condon’s effort and maybe I’m a little disappointed because I was late to the Flying Club Cup party. But I know he has better in him and I’d be willing to bet the next Beirut album, whenever it comes out, will continue impress.

Buy: Beirut – March of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland
Myspace: Beirut