Gulag Orkestar / Lon Gisland EP [Special Edition]

To be honest, when I think of psychedelic bands I don't usually think of Balkan folk music. But with the release of Beirut's "Gulag Orkestar," I may have to revise my thinking.

This new band consists of teenage musician Zach Condon, along with people from Neutral Milk Hotel and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, making bittersweet folkpop and danceable marches. Imagine a band of slightly drunk gypsies on parade, and you'll have the general idea of how it sounds.

It opens slow, with a gentle piano and blaring horns. The title track meanders in circles and finally dies away... only to be reborn as a swaying march. Halfway through, Condon joins in with some mournful wails and equally mournful singing. That turns around in "Prenzluerberg," where the singing is just as melancholy, but the music is a cheerier march.

From there on, the trio tries out those styles and everything in between -- rattly folk with tambourines and horns, danceable folkpop, and tinkly klezmer music. Yes, tinkly klezmer. They get downright happy in "Scenic World," a colorful glockenspiel song that is just barely grounded by some quick violins.

After that, "Gulah Orkestar" is pretty upbeat, with a string of swaying marches and upbeat folk acoustics. The album's finale is a bit of a head-scratcher, though. "After the Curtain" is a relatively bare-bones song with Condon singing over applause and a dancing glockenspiel. I don't know how to fit that one in.

And this version has an addition: The "Lon Gisland" EP, which starts off with the bittersweet, playful horn pop "Elephant Gun," before slipping off into a ponderous march song, a colourful accordion tune (complete with clacking drumsticks), a sweep of soaring horns, and the delightfully bright "Carousels."

Basically this album is what happens when an American teenager drops out and crosses Eastern Europe, soaking up the folk music as he goes.

And it's a good thing Condon's musical talents are being backed by experienced musicians, so we can get a bittersweet, atmospheric taste of whatever he heard there. The main problem is that the less folky songs don't really fit in -- without them, the album would have been a lot better. But as it is, it's a remarkable achievement.

Condon has a pretty deep voice for someone so young, and he fills it with the longing and beauty that traditional singing often has. And he's assisted by some very talented musicians: Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, both of whom work in the psych-folk band A Hawk and a Hacksaw. So of course, they have a good ear for this sort of thing.

So how do they manage? Soundwise, it's like someone took the gypsy out of Gogol Bordello and slapped it on Neutral Milk Hotel. The songs are brimming with violins, horns, accordion, mandolin, pianos, ukeleles, glockenspiel and many others. These instruments are so smoothly blended that it sounds like at least a dozen people are playing at any one time, and that they've played this music their whole lives.

"Gulag Orkestar" is a pretty, heart-tugging album that will make you think of quaint European villages in the springtime. Definitely worth listening to, many times.

Prepare your ears for an oddity. From the 1st track this is a whirlwind trip around Eastern Europe via a slight distorting mirror. Then slowly but surely your heart starts to move and it is under your skin. Very little of the lyrics can be plainly discerned but the melody and emotion is so strong it doesn't matter. When you find some thing as different but so right as this it rekindles your whole reason for loving music. Get the credit card out now.

I got hold of this last year when it first came out. At the time I listened to it and listened again and again..... I'll admit I wasn't really sure if this was very good or just utterly pretentious crap! I didn't get this with the first few listens - didn't get it at all. So I left it, unplayed for a few months. However, I did put it on my mp3 played, and whilst it was turned to random the other day, on came "Brandenburg". As I was "gloved up" at work I couldn't fast forward. But......remarkably this time it hit me! This IS good music!

I've listened to the whole of the album a few times over the past couple of days and yes, it is good all the way through.Saying that this won't be everyone's cup of tea - not by a long chalk! If you like your music to be daring, experimental, highly original and imbued with a deep melancholy then this might be for you. If you like music that you don't have to work at listening to then it is definitely not for you!

The whole album is a mix of Balkan-style folk, played with ukelele, mandolin, horns and percussion. Added to Condon's vocals which treble throughout, it's an odd but thoroughly moving piece of work. When I first heard it last year it sounded more like drunken mariachi than Balkan folk but I don't hear the mariachi band now I've listened again.

Standout tracks are "Brandenburg", the odd beer-hall style march "Prenzlauerburg", "Postcards from Italy", and the fabulously haunting "Rhineland".

"Gulag Orkestar" has been compared favourably to Neutral Milk Hotel's brilliant "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". As it features Jeremy Barnes who also drummed with Neutral Milk Hotel, I guess these comparisons were inevitable. I personally don't think this is up there with "In the Aeroplane" but then nothing is! This is though a great album that stands out from anything else you're ever likely to hear. (10/10)