Beirut - Gallipolli

The Guardian 60

(4AD)

Four years have passed since the previous Beirut record, but they remain – soothingly and dismayingly – much the same. The brass is still pitched somewhere between Burnley and the Balkans, proud but wobbly, with the occasional duff note kept unedited to better signify frail humanity. Ukuleles are strummed as if heralding the arrival of the bride at an indie-Pinterest wedding. The soft-rock moods of 2015’s No No No are pared back slightly, with the scratchier production of their earlier work brought back in, resulting in the Beirutiest Beirut album yet.

Zach Condon’s voice remains as distinctively lovely as ever: unafraid of whimsical wordless yodels and heartfelt vibrato, this potentially divisive instrument, best in small doses, is what gives the band its heft. You really notice its absence on the pointless instrumentals On Mainau Island and Fin.