Sound: 10
Lyrics: 10
Originality: 10
Overall: 10

Rated (Nonexplicit)

Comments: The Flying Club Cup is a fantastic album, put out by the excellent band, Beirut. Beirut is the creation of Zach Condon, a 22 year old who has been putting out music since he was 15 years of age. Along with Zach and his normal accompaniment is Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy, who provides string arrangements and plays the violin and organ as well as backing vocals. These members are good at what they do and doing it together. The music melds together very well, each instrument adding another layer to the piece of art at hand. At any time one can listen deeply and pick out a different instrument. They all are played very well and they all form together to make some of the most beautiful music. And that doesn't mean it's slow and or lacking in energy. Beirut proves it can play at different speeds, and change speeds in songs, through out the album. The second track, Nantes, starts slow and builds up, each instrument jumping in fluidly. Each instrument brings more feeling to the table and only adds to the mix. All the songs are catchy, but complex enough to stay out of your mind so you keep going back to listen to it again, just to hear it again. All of this time Zach brings a deep and adaptable voice into the equation. I doesn't matter if he is singing to a quite little tune or a swelling wave of instruments, he sounds great, and his voice fits in very well. He brings such life to the lyrics and gives the words new meaning as he sings them. And when Zach is accompanied it sounds just as good, the rest all backing his voice is a sound that truly should be heard. All of this is packed into a mere 39 minutes, which may seem short to someone who's never heard it, but after you have you'll go back for more, and it will definitely stay with you after you've been through it at least once. Through out all of Beirut's history it evolves. From Gulag Orkestar, to Lon Gisland, to The Flying Club Cup, the band makes a definitive new feel and sound. The Flying Club Cup is probably the only work from Beirut that'll sound like it sounds, though they might revisit the style later in time. The music is beautiful, layered and very pleasing, the singing is wondrous, the lyrics are definitely well thought out, and this album is by far one of the best I've ever heard. Every one should get the chance to listen to this album. I'm proud to play this for other people, I'm proud to suggest it to people, I'm proud to even own this album. Sure I'd let you say that it's undeserving of my extreme amounts of praise, but I would never let you say it's undeserving of praise at all. Beirut is a very good band and The Flying Club Cup is a great album by them.

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