Dopo appena un anno dal precedente "Gulag Orkestar", Zach Condon pubblica il secondo capitolo della saga Beirut: "The Flying Club Cup". Il titolo dell'album deriva da un festival di mongolfiere parigino di inizio '900, con la Francia (e Parigi) che non hanno influenzato solo nel titolo ma anche nelle sonorità il disco (un concept sulla Francia?), che abbandona in parte le sonorità balcaniche dell'esordio.
Dopo la chiamata alle armi iniziale parte "Nantes", che ci fa entrare da subito nel mood dell'album, sia per il titolo che per l'utilizzo di un dialogo tratto dal film "La B ête Humaine" di Jean Renoir (trasposizione cinematografica del romanzo di Emile Zola). Con "Guyamas Sonora" si ritorna agli arrangiamenti balcanici (influenzati da Goran Bregovic) di "Gulag Orkestar", ma già "Le Banlieu" con la sua mesta malinconia ci riporta alle atmosfere che avevamo incontrato in precedenza. Nella minimale "The Penalty" è protagonista l'ukulele, presente in misura maggiore nel precedente lavoro. Il pianoforte attorno a cui è imperniata "In The Mausoleum" è debitore del Sufjan Stevens di "Illinoise", ma il risultato finale appare meno fastoso rispetto al baroque-pop di Mr.Stevens.
Gli episodi finali del disco (si noti in particolare "Cherbourg") danno l'idea di essere riempitivi o comunque di idee sviluppate male e ciò fa scendere di valore un disco che fino ad allora si era mosso su livelli medio-alti. Forse è proprio la durata leggermente elevata l'unica pecca di quello che, altrimenti, poteva essere un ottimo disco, un disco senza cadute di stile.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Nantes (03:50)
Well it's been a long time, long time now since I've seen you smile.
And I'll gamble away my fright. And I'll gamble away my time.
And in a year, a year or so this will slip into the sea.
Well, it's been a long time, long time now since I've seen you smile.
Nobody raise their voices
Just another night in Nantes.
Nobody raise their voices
Just another night in Nantes.
03 A Sunday Smile (03:35)
Encore, une fois
All I want is the best for our lives my dear,
and you know my wishes are sincere.
Whats to say for the days I cannot bare.
A Sunday smile you wore it for a while.
A Cemetery mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile you wore it for a while.
A Cemetery mile we paused and sang.
About a Sunday smile and we felt true.
We burnt to the ground
left a view to admire
with buildings inside church of white.
We burnt to the ground left a grave to admire.
And as we reach for the sky, reach the church of white.
A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
A Cemetery mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
A Cemetery mile we paused and sang.
About a Sunday smile and we felt true.
04 Guyamas Sonora (03:31)
In the hall I heard your faints falling, your trial and my corrections made. You have all the prayers of my loose heart. You have all the prayers of . No I was not there on the church stairs. The wind in my hair, a flood through my tear.
06 Cliquot (03:51)
A plague in the workhouse, a plague on the poor
Now I'll beat on my drum 'til I'm dead
Yesterday, a fever, tomorrow, St. Peter
I'll beat on my drum until then.
But what melody will lead my lover from his bed?
What melody will see him in my arms again?
Set fire to foundation and burn out the station
You'll never get nothing of mine
The pane of my window will flicker and billow
I won't leave a stitching behind
But what melody will lead my lover from his bed?
What melody will see him in my arms again?
I'll sing of the walls of the well and the house at the top of the hill
I'll sing of the bottles of wine that we left on our old windowsill
I'll sing of the years you will spend getting sadder and older
Oh love, and the cold, the oncoming cold
07 The Penalty (02:22)
Like an ancient day and I'm on trial
Let them seize the way, this once was an island
And I could not stay for I believed them
Left for the lights always in season
Impassable night in a crowd of homesick
Fully grown children, you'll leave the lights
Your family may not wait, Sir, keep on believing
Our parents rue the day, they find us kneeling
Let them think what they may, for they've good reason
Left for the lights always in season
08 Forks and Knives (La Fête) (03:33)
Uptown, the street's in a calming way
And outside is warm as a bed with a maid
And I find it's all our waves and raves
That makes the days go on this way
I heard the sad sound of words
Spoken from a beak of a wise old bird
Uptown, the streets are kept afloat
And that girl never leaves me alone
He means well, saying,
I've got stories of wine, superb
And of course my childhood, forks and knives
And a hospital bed, where I turned my life over and over again
09 In the Mausoleum (03:10)
Time travels to know Your secret life In your mausoleum And Berlin is So ugly in the morning light But with them, I could never feel so right
11 Cherbourg (03:33)
And a fall from you
is a long way down
I've found a better way out
And a fall from you
is a long way down
I know a better way out
Well it's been a long time
since I've seen you smile
Gambled away my fright
Till the morning lights shine
x2
Sunday morning
only fog on the limbs
I called it again
what do you know
And I filled our days
with cards and gin
You're alight again, my dear
I will lead the way, oh, lead the way
When I know
And I'll sleep away, oh, sweep away
What I don't
Well sieze the way, oh, sieze the way
No, I won't
I will lead the way, oh, lead the day
When I know
12 St. Apollonia (02:58)
All these saints that I move without
I lose without in vain
All these saints, they move without
They moved without again
Well, all these places will lose without
They lose without a name
13 The Flying Club Cup (03:05)
I built my house of reeds upon a marsh in Elise
My father was released a day's walk from San Denise
We buried him beneath the bone-white sands of San Denise
Silence of an airborne night
Push high above the roof
Daughters of the Red lights blind
The icy works of art
The city lights and restless nights
Go once upon the Lord
You and I will lie beside the fire sparked from boards
It's yours
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