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Track Listings
| 1. A Candle's Fire |
| 2. Santa Fe |
| 3. East Harlem |
| 4. Goshen |
| 5. Payne's Bay |
| 6. The Rip Tide |
| 7. Vagabond |
| 8. The Peacock |
| 9. Port Of Call |
Product Description
Review
Having assimilated and channelled Eastern European folk styles into his startling 2006 debut, Gulag Orkestar, before sprinkling the sound of chanson fran�aise throughout The Flying Club Cup the following year, Condon's most recent output as Beirut found him collaborating with a Mexican marching band on 2009's March of the Zapotec. The slower pace and darker tones of that EP are immediately cast aside here in favour of a cleaner, brighter aesthetic that informs each of these nine songs.
Unlike those previous works, The Rip Tide doesn't offer up a geographical postcode, and it also comes off a little slight at first. This is partly because of its length (its 33 minutes fairly fly by), but mostly due to the high benchmark Condon has set himself. The urgent melodies of earlier songs like Elephant Gun and Nantes are nothing if not instantly memorable, and while this may be Beirut's out-and-out 'poppiest' work yet, it does benefit from a little time to breathe - allowing its horns, strings and vocals to distinguish themselves from each other; its charms to ensnare you.
Because it is a lovely (albeit little) record. Full of sweeping flourishes and the kind of weary romanticism Condon could probably patent by now, tunes like East Harlem and A Candle's Fire eddy and swirl into unexpected breaks with all the confidence of anything the band have released to date (look out for Sharon Van Etten's brief, smouldering turn on the latter). Goshen is intimate and subdued, Payne's Bay sweet and propulsive, and Port of Call, with its rich arrangements and driving, persistent chord pattern, is one of Condon's very best to date.
The Rip Tide's refined title-track is the longest on here at four-and-a-half minutes, yet lyrically it consists of little more than a pair of repeated lines concerning a house, a rolling tide, and loneliness. The pleasure in Beirut's music has always largely been in what it evokes - a kind of melancholy tempered with optimism and sometimes celebration. And it evokes marvellously here: whatever current Condon found himself caught up in that led to the creation of these songs, it's one you feel he's happy to coast a while yet.
--James Skinner
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
Customer Reviews
mix of new material. I loved Beirut's last outing, 2009's offering
'March Of The Zapotec / Holland', a dazzling mix of mariachi mayhem
and tender lyricism. Mr Condon is my kind of maverick and 'The Rip
Tide' is perhaps his most coherent body of work so-far. The songs
hang together wonderfully well and the project has a warm sonic
immediacy which plays with a wide range of textures and emotions.
You can sing along to it with just a little practice and application
and some of the numbers lend themselves to dancing cheek to cheek.
Mr Condon's voice has a fragile but distinctive presence; his vibrato is
especially endearing and his songwriting goes from strength to strength.
Once again it is the adroit use of brass which defines the band's sound.
Trumpet, trombone, euphonium and tuba create rich chromatic and rhythmic
textures within the idiosyncratic arrangements courtesy of Ben Lanz,
Kelly Pratt and Mr Condon himself; Paul Collins plays bass; Perrin
Cloutier, accordion and piano and Nick Petree keeps crisp time on the drums.
There are some lovely compositions here. 'East Harlem' has a particularly
strong melody, a gently jaunty beat and delicious brass refrains; 'Goshen'
is a simple but highly poignant invention sung with authentic and touching
candour by our host; 'Payne's Bay is a lilting waltz-time arrangement
shot through with well-realised vocal harmonies which hops time signature
half-way through and concludes with a cheeky staccato village-band coda and
final track 'Port Of Call' which brings the album to a lilting folksy end.
It is the stunning title track 'The Rip Tide', however, which steals the deal.
A timeless, romantic anthem which messes about with your heart in the nicest
possible way. A song which lingers in the memory long after the final bar has
faded away. It is arguably Mr Condon's finest moment by a long country mile.
The more I listen to the album the more I love it. A desert island disc indeed.
Highly Recommended.
The slower numbers aren't quite as immediate and need repeated listens to appreciate them. But bear with them, they are mournful at times but worth coming back to. Especially the title track which is quite wonderful on repeated listens.Condons voice is probably the strongest its ever been here.
What you have here is an album of brass and orchestral accompanied folk that veers occasionally into pop territory. It works well as a album from start to finish and benefits from only have nine tracks. Four and a half stars if I could award the half. Recommended
Zach has matured with age. The album is more subtle than the previous 3 and requires a keener ear. Read more
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