Beirut - Gulag Orkestar

The first half of the year is over, and the two best albums of 2006 at this point are both heavily influenced by Eastern Bloc folk stylings. Neko Case’s The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Russian folklore, and Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar by the polka waltzes from the other side of the collapsed Berlin Wall.

There’s an allure for Westerners in Eastern Europe: Slavic culture was hidden and feared by us for so long, and that veil is just beginning to lift (even as Vladimir Putin slides Russia ever closer to its past). With their debut album, Beirut sheds light on the mysterious cloak around Eastern European folk music, mixing it with delicate pop and old-soul vocals. The feat is particularly stunning, as Zach Condon, the lead singer and songwriter of Beirut, is a 19 year-old New Mexican living in Brooklyn.

Each of the songs on this wonderful record is immaculate in detail and soundscape. Condon captures the unique blend of pathos and clamor that define Eastern European folk, wrapping the songs with spitting horns and slipping accordion. Condon’s only weakness, and I use that term loosely, is lyrically. But how can I fault a 19 year-old for not writing like Fyodor Dostoevsky?

I recommend buying the whole album for the full effect, but some of the standout tracks include “Bandenburg”, with its joyous mandolin; “Postcards from Italy”, which seems like it would work in a Wes Anderson epic right before a piano kicks in splendidly; and the delightful “Scenic World”, where Condon’s voice drifts solidly over a bubbled synth line.

I had a disturbing thought while listening to Gulag Orkestar: what if folk from behind the Iron Curtain is the new swing? All it’s going to take is a flashy Gap commercial, and Beirut will skyrocket to faddish superstardom. All the kids will be wearing silver fox Ushanka hats this winter…

Good night, I hope that doesn’t happen.

Back to my first paragraph: this is the second best album of the year so far.

Beirut, Gulag Orkestar: A