By Julia Difiori
Copy Editor
Forget Lebanon, Beirut’s latest album will take listeners all the way to a whole ‘nother world.
“No No No” contains a handful of noteworthy songs and radiates the alluringly relaxed vibe that is the band’s trademark. While Beirut fails to significantly expand its sound on the new album, the album is still impressive.
Beirut, named after the capital city of Lebanon, is headed by New Mexico musician Zach Condon. After dropping out of high school and travelling extensively, Condon recorded his first album “Gulag Orkestar” in 2006.
Beirut has since released several Extended Plays as well as albums “The Flying Club Cup,” “The Rip Tide” and most recently “No No No.” He currently enlists Aaron Arntz, Paul Collins, Ben Lanz, Nick Petree and Kyle Resnick to accompany him during live performances.
The elements that have long lent Beirut its mesmerizing, mellow tone are all present on “No No No.” Condon’s unique vocals are supported by a variety of instruments that are layered onto each track without making them sound overproduced. The band’s quirky habit of naming songs after cities and neighborhoods around the world sets the mood, and there is no shortage of beautiful melodies on the album.
However, the quality of some tracks on the album is detracted by the repetition of these melodies, a shortcoming that makes the songs slightly monotonous. For instance, the title track “No No No” lacks imagination in that it repeats the hook and the same four lyrics without variation, and the lyrics are neither original nor redeeming.
The same weakness plagues “Gibraltar,” another track with sparse lyrics reiterated. Rather than telling full and poetic stories, the lyrics throughout the album tend to be arcane such “everything should be fine/you’ll find things tend to stand in line/it’s but a link in time/but I’m sure you’ll let me try.” But instead of adding intrigue and mystery, these half-hearted lyrics only isolate listeners.
On the other hand, “Pacheco” is a dreamy tune in which the drone-like consistency of the music works in the band’s favor because of the soft melody and understated essence of the song. Furthermore, the music’s composition contributes to the setting and of the track, the small town in California named Pacheco. The album would be more cohesive and impactful if more songs throughout it mimicked the finesse of this one.
Yet the album is irresistibly pleasant as a result of the arrangements that give each track a sense of unity. These arrangements include the distinctive incorporation of percussion, piano, violin and trumpet into many songs, yielding greater variety in the sounds and tones that complete each track. Songs such as “Perth” and the instrumental “As Needed” demonstrate this masterful execution.
Although repetition and terse lyrics prevent the album from achieving total success, “No No No” perseveres. Overall, the album does not mark a dramatic shift in a new direction for Beirut. But with its peaceful sound honed closer to perfection than ever before, there’s little reason for the group to make a move anytime soon.
“No No No” was released on Sept. 11 and is available digitally and in retail from $11.49.
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