Singled Out: A Sunday Smile by Beirut

There is no mistaking that familiar voice sailing along the swells of brassy, golden horns. The mouth it originates from moves swiftly, dragging out the last syllables of select words, or are those really words? They're more like sounds, cries of emotion that can't be tied down by wholly confining pre-established vocabulary, but freely delivers its message through its sheer volume and it lifts even the heaviest of hearts. We hear it fed through a megaphone, an audio trick that we've heard before, making his voice sound even more foreign and faraway than it already is.

The lone voice belongs to of course, Zach Condon, the one who brought us last year, The Gulag Orkestra, an album that for most of us ventured into unfamiliar territory that was filled with the hearty sounds of Balkan brass orchestras and made trumpets more than just mere solo decorations within songs, but centered the particular brass instrument in the spotlight and most likely inspired a mousy haired youngster out there to leave the finger-blistering guitar in the closet for a shiny, promising trumpet along with a much needed spit cup.

And yes this is one of the new songs off of the October 9th-slated album, The Flying Club Cup and it's called "A Sunday Smile". You may have heard it already from watching the Take Away Show presented by La Blogothèque, which Zach Condon preformed with one of his musical influences, The Kocani Orkestra. Without them, The Gulag Orkestra would probably never have existed, seeding its gypsy sounds within Condon, but this time for the new album, the seed was planted by the late musician and lyricist Jacques Brel.

From start to finish the song plays out like a circus affair, a towering Jack in the Box with the handle winding round and round, accordions squeezing the summer air and stretching to reveal a painted design like a flag unfurled caught in a breeze. The album is said to be the result of French influences both culturally and musically and the visual inspiration for Condon this time around was the photograph that is now gracing the cover of the album.

Beirut right now is somewhere in Brooklyn rehearsing for their upcoming tour that will hit off at Brooklyn's Masonic Temple on Sept. 20th, following two more New York dates and making their way to the somewhat major American cities before leaving on a jet plane to spend November in Europe.

I confess, I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am about The Flying Club Cup. The only thing that could possibly be better than the new album releasing, would be seeing Beirut themselves on Sept. 24th at the Wordless Music Series in New York at the Society for Ethical Culture venue.

If you're even doubting if it's worth to see them live, oh which is surely a crime, you had better watch the Take Away Show that features Condon with The Kocani Orkestra playing the reprise of "Siki Siki Baba" (scroll to the last video) and then you'll wish you were there just like I do every time I watch it and that whatever you did on July 30th, 2007 would never have topped standing in the Parisian venue, La Flèche d'Or and being part of the audience that happily sang and swayed as one. And if you are already convinced, you had better watch it anyways. It's the best live show footage I've seen in years, Vincent Moon is a mad hand-holding cameraman genuis!

Stream + Download + Purchase:

A Sunday Smile | Beirut

Links:

» Beirut's Official Site
» Pre-Order The Flying Club Cup
» Beirut's Official MySpace
» Beirut's Tour Dates
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.9-60.10 Beirut + The Koncani Orkestra playing "A Sunday Smile" (video)
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.1 Beirut + The Kocani Orkestra playing "Siki Siki Baba" reprise (video)
» YouTube: Zach Condon singing "Knife" by Grizzly Bear (video)
» The Kocani Orkestra's Official Site
» Wikipedia: Jacques Brel

~anne