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By Tim Chester

Posted on 14/01/09 at 01:35:26 pm

Every so often a song comes along and stops you in your tracks. Something so beautifully perfect it traps you for the first hour after you first hear it, demanding repeated plays from a listener snared in catatonic bliss, like the aural equivalent of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.

For me in recent years I'm talking Cat Power's 'The Greatest', Explosions In The Sky's 'First Breath After Coma' - and Beirut's 'Nantes'.

Beirut

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An amazing track that pulled me into the world of Beirut, it opened an astonishing second album, one so good it attracted the attention of French filmmakers La Blogotheque who made a video for every track.

Check out the piece for 'Nantes', which sees band lynchpin Zach Condon walking down some spiral stairs singing the track live and picking up band members as he goes, here. It's amazing.

So anyway the good news in Beirut are back, with a double EP. The first – ‘March Of The Zapotec’ - is much more the Beirut we know and love, mournful Eastern European romps and stomps peppered with trumpet fanfares and rattled snares. The second, 'Holland', was recorded under the name Realpeople (one of Zach Condon's pre-Beirut pseudonyms) and sees them go dance. Yes really.

As if learning the French horn and euphonium for the second album wasn't enough, Condon's fully immersed himself in hazy electronica and on the whole it works really well. Let me know what you think.

Download Beirut's My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille here

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6 comments

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Jamie [Visitor] //January 17 2009 at 18:10
I really like it, I thought Zachs synth stuff would be darker though. But judging by this it shall be a good double EP
Jack [Visitor] //January 22 2009 at 14:41
Extremely impressive to say the least. I was blown away by the La Blogotheque 'Nantes' video, powerful in its simplicity. Thanks for the introduction to Beirut. x
lisa [Visitor] //January 22 2009 at 21:34
red hurey
danas3 / tia / as3 [Visitor] //July 16 2009 at 14:39
you the best my music
danas3 / tia / as3 [Visitor] //July 16 2009 at 14:40
you the best my music
Christina [Visitor] //August 21 2009 at 19:43
im in love with beirut, got excited when i saw "free download from beirut" only to discover i already have this track, oh well its brilliant

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