一切都充满了异国情调：乐队名叫做“贝鲁特”，唱片名叫做“古拉格管弦乐之星”，音乐则飘荡着浓郁的巴尔干吉普赛风情。
令人吃惊的是乐队首脑是一位土生土张的美国人，年仅19岁的少年zach condon野心勃勃地从高中缀学，巡游欧洲，遍历各国音乐与文化，
在几位才华横溢的艺人辅佐下交出了一张令人咂舌的成绩单－－－Gulag Orkestar，一张鲜有吉他成分的摇滚专辑，风格则象是MICROPHONE与NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL的混合。
Zach Condon绝对独立音乐界年度最黑的马，Gulag Orkestar无疑年度独立榜单前十。
专辑中既有衰伤的民谣也有欢快的小调，配器庞杂－－－小号，弦乐器，尤克莱利琴，曼陀林，钟琴，鼓，风琴以及其它不知道名字的打击乐器，轻松而富有层次感地融合为一体，
听起来就好象几十人的乐团在演奏。zach condon的声音与Andrew bird相似，虽没有后者纯净却自有一股子浓浓的乡村气息。
Biography by Stewart Mason
One of 2006's most unexpected indie success stories, Beirut combines a wide variety of styles, from pre-rock pop music and Eastern European gypsy styles to the alternately plaintive and whimsical indie folk of the Decemberists and the lo-fi, homemade psychedelic experimentation of Neutral Milk Hotel. That the central figure in all of this is a teenager from Albuquerque, NM, makes Beirut's debut album, Gulag Orkestar, all the more surprising.
Something of a musical prodigy, singer and multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon was making one-man D.I.Y. bedroom recordings by his early teens; in interviews, he claims to have recorded an entire album of 1950s-style doo wop material and a collection of electronic pop songs inspired by the Magnetic Fields. (Indeed, Condon's dolorous vocal delivery and low, somewhat shaky pitch sound directly inspired by the Fields' Stephin Merritt.) After dropping out of high school, Condon claims to have traveled through Europe at the age of 16, in the process becoming exposed to the Balkan folk and gypsy music that's at the heart of Gulag Orkestar. Back home in Albuquerque, Condon crossed paths with fellow New Mexican Jeremy Barnes, formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel, whose own albums as A Hawk and a Hacksaw share similarly ethnographic interests with Condon's new material. With the help of Barnes and his A Hawk and a Hacksaw partner, Heather Trost, Condon recorded the songs that would make up Gulag Orkestar largely on his own, playing accordion, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, horns, glockenspiel, and percussion along with Barnes' drums and Trost's cello and violin.
After Barnes gave an early version of the album to Ba Da Bing! Records label head Ben Goldberg, the newly christened band Beirut was signed to the New Jersey-based label and Condon moved from Albuquerque to Brooklyn, where he put together a floating collective of part-time bandmembers along the lines of Broken Social Scene for live performances. Following the release of Gulag Orkestar in May 2006, critical approbation quickly moved from the smallest blogs to mainstream media outlets that pegged Condon as a one-man cross between Jeff Mangum, Conor Oberst, and Sufjan Stevens. The EP Lon Gisland followed in 2007.
06 September 06
4AD is delighted to announce a deal with Beirut, whose album The Gulag Orkestar is one of the most exciting debut releases in years.
Beirut is the work of the 20 year old Zach Condon. His music is inspired by a love of European folk music, as filtered by a fertile imagination raised in New Mexico and currently resident in Brooklyn.
Emusic described The Gulag Orkestar as "the best indie rock record of the 19th Century".
4AD will be releasing an expanded version of the album - in the world outside North America - in October. This will coincide with the band's first shows in the UK, which are in support of Calexico.
