Beirut Marches On

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Beirut Marches On

POSTED: Friday, April 10, 2009, 4:00 PM

Filed Under: Music Show

An interview with Zach Condon of Beirut.

City Paper: You just released two EPs, March of the Zapotec and Holland, simultaneously ' are these forerunners to a new album?
Zach Codon: No, I see this release as a way of clearing the palette for what I do next ' so that I'm not held to any particular habit or style when I start writing again for the next album proper.

CP: And March of the Zapotec was inspired by your travels to Mexico?
ZC: Actually going to Oaxaca to record with the village band was my first time in Mexico (outside of a childhood trip into Tijuana). We went back earlier this year to Mexico City and drove to the coasts from there. Mexico feels like a more rough and tumble New Mexico.

CP: What was your time in Teotitlan del Valle like? What about it stuck with you?
ZC: Hard to think of something specific. Donkey's eyes are some of the saddest I've ever seen on any animal. Don't drink mescal from a plastic bottle. There's a song that got stuck in my head that won't leave me alone some times at night ' it woke us up everyday around noon to call the children back to school from lunch break, a goofy plunky march song written in the area; It was called 'March of the Zapotec.'

CP: How did the creative processes differ for the two EPs?
ZC: The one in Mexico was a giant project involving approximately 22 people in all, with a lot of preplanning and preparations and setbacks. A real mission I set out on. Holland however, was me all alone just letting the ideas fly.

CP: Which songs are you attached to the most?
ZC: Well It's better to say I'm particularly fond of 'The Shrew' as it feels like the climax of a lot of my songwriting in the last few years. It gives me a snapshot of just the way I thought musically at that point in time with the violent middle and slithery melodies at the beginning and end.

CP: Tell us a bit about the legend behind 'La Llorona.'
ZC: Well frankly it creeped me out as a kid. It was fun to hear the slight deviations from the plot I grew up with and the version they have in Oaxaca. Short version: A women, smited by her husband, drags her children down to the river and in an unbelievable cruel fit of rage drowns them. Realizing what she's done she wanders the river crying out ' La Llorona means the crier, basically ' looking for her kids or any kids that she can get her hands on at night, forever haunting the riverbanks and arroyos.

CP: What's taken so long to follow up Flying Club Cup?
ZC: Touring. I plan on doing less of it next year so I can concentrate more on writing. Maybe I'll go disappear for a bit.

CP: What are your post-tour plans?
ZC: I might scope out a secret musical lab in New Mexico or something and eat burritos until I'm fat and happy. I'll see you in a year or so with a new record.

CP: Looking back on the recording process, which song(s) did you struggle with most?
ZC: In some ways 'La Llorona,' as it was the first one we started on. And that's when we realized the challenges we'd be up against. We spent a few sleepless nights up really late rearranging things to better fit with Banda Jimenez's style of playing.

CP: Which came with the most ease?
ZC: Probably some of the stuff on Holland.

CP: At this point in your life, would you say that the glass is half-empty or that its half-full?
ZC: IT better not be half empty. I've been working for it.

Beirut plays the Electric Factory tonight.

Beirut on Myspace.

Beirut on a nice looking web site.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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