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"Gallipoli" is the fifth studio album by indie folk band Beirut. It was released on February 1, 2019 on the 4AD label. The album is named after the Italian town where the title track was written.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 77, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
User Album Review
Beirut, the band led by Zach Condon, is a very interesting project with a distinct tendency of blending indie rock concepts with a world music perspective. Through the years Beirut have played around with a plethora of diverse elements, ranging from indie folk to the Balkan folk tradition. And all the while they are still introducing further strange additions to their works, such as a baroque pop element and electronic modifications. Their latter works, especially No No No, saw them further establish this world music narrative with a certain lo-fi ethic that finely balanced their overall vision.
The band's new record Gallipoli sees Beirut move further down this path, with the world music influence oozing from the record's core from the very opening of track, "When I Die". The feelings that they transmit are simply mesmerizing, taking full advantage of two distinct worlds. On one end there is a minimalistic element, mirrored through the progression, but then there is a big and imposing instrumentation, which makes the textures of Gallipoli that more rich and interesting. The big horns stand proudly in this mix, while the progression takes on a marching band motif, which makes for an astounding result. This monotonous rendition that Beirut follow, even though at first it might appear underwhelming, is actually one of the most potent elements of this work. "Family Curse" is a prime example of that aspect of the band, which sees the repetitive elements evolve to a towering form.
Even though Beirut did not reinvent their modus operandi with Gallipoli, the record stands as one of their stronger moments, mainly due to Condon's perspective towards the feeling of this record. It is a work of contradiction, taking all these world music elements and this laid back vibe, and yet it provides an insight into the band's bittersweet somber core.
Reviewed by Spyros Stasis for popmatters.com.
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