March Of The Zapotec And Realpeople Holland

Another item from the list of things to look forward to has arrived: the double EP from Beirut, March Of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland, though the second disc should actually just be called Holland and credited to Realpeople, another of Zach Condon's musical projects. The rationale for this is that the two EPs are completely different from one another, and Holland is completely different from most of what Beirut is known for.


March Of The Zapotec continues Condon's experimentation with foreign music that began with his trip to the Balkans that inspired Gulag Orkestar and continued through to Western Europe in The Flying Club Cup. This one takes place in Mexico, and while it maintains the typical Beirut sound, I feel like it lacks a lot of the charm and good songwriting that was found on the aforementioned recordings. In contrast, Holland, though it shakes the foundation of what we've come to expect from Zach and is more electronic than anything else, actually retains the charm and is full of beautiful, emotional tracks. It's almost as if Condon was torn between what was expected of him, the traditional world-influenced folk music, and what he actually wanted to make, the synth-pop. He ended up making a little of each, but you can easily tell where his efforts and excitement were focused. "My Wife, Lost In The Wild" is a gorgeous, melancholy piece that is of the same vein as the previously released "My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille," only better, while "No Dice" is an incredibly catchy rollercoaster of a track that moves farthest away from the rest and still captures the emotion inherent in Beirut's music without taking advantage of any of Condon's vocals or typical instruments. I have so much respect for him right now because of his ability to convey the same essence in two vastly different genres of music, and I'm excited to see in which direction he'll go next.