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It’s hard to fault Zach Condon, Beirut’s Irish tenor and multi-instrumentalist, for wanting to focus on fewer instruments and world music influenced styles after the exalted reception of Gulag Orkestar (2006) and The Flying Club Cup (2007). Perhaps taking four years to release an all-new album after releasing two consecutively well-received records in a two-year period set the standard a bit high for 2011’s The Rip Tide. But unfortunately, throughout the 9 lacklustre tracks of a stripped-down version of Beirut’s praised Balkan folk-pop aesthetic, the loss of that songwriting spark and instrumental ingenuity makes it feel like he’s simply out of new ideas.
