Beirut: Postcards From Italy | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW

How does a band return from a recording hiatus that could have permanently displaced it from the audience's eye? If you are Zach Condon and Beirut, you just go about your business and pick up where you left off three years earlier. The group's First Listen Live show at Brooklyn's intimate Bell House on a rainy September night, a concert debuting many of the songs from the brand new No No No, its first album since 2011, showed that Beirut works through its obstacles. Maybe it helps when the initial idea behind a band is ahead of the curve to begin with, no?

When Condon's Beirut first came to prominence in 2006, it emerged from Santa Fe with a fully conceived, pan-global folk sound unlike any indie sensibilities popular on the day. Zach's trumpet and flugelhorn playing was informed by local Mexican mariachi horns, his engagement with the Roma brass bands of the Balkans, and modal jazz changes via a percolating bossa nova; he favored timeless instruments (ukuleles, accordions) and images, to the rush of the modern; and the songs his quavering tenor delivered, also traveled the old continents. Live, the group grew into a formidable sextet, heavy on keyboards, horns and harmony, a world onto themselves.

At the Bell House, Beirut ran down its entire career before a sold-out audience, and the songs from No No No, the band's fourth studio, fit snuggly alongside the older material, even as it heralded directions new and familiar. "Perth," for instance, featured a touch of the Memphis soul energy, with Ben Lanz's trombone adding a brassy bump; "Fener," a song about a neighborhood in Istanbul, is built around the motorik beat interplay between Aaron Arntz's keyboards and Nick Petree's drums, before dropping down into a great g-funk slink, guided by Condon's Moog. So seemingly apart from Beirut's musical environment, yet, here they were, a natural part of it, making the audience sway endlessly. The hiatus, it seems, simply made full hearts grow fonder. -- PIOTR ORLOV

Director: Mito Habe-Evans; Producer: Saidah Blount; Videographers: Mito Habe-Evans, Lani Milton, Christopher Farber, A.J. Wilhelm; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin; Special Thanks: The Bell House; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann

[PaulausDeutschland]

The second voice after the the trombone/trumpet part gives a whole new dimension to this song.

[pussinchucks]

There was a time this song made me cry. Now it fills me with hope and joy. Masterpiece.

[admerr]

This show needs to be released. Best version of Postcards.

[pullthruchaos]

The most beautiful horn segment ever. This song always makes me cry. And I don't know why? lol happy cries

[cristinagabassi]

As an Italian woman, I must say that this masterpiece makes me think of my childhood, my present and my future in my Italy...nostalgia and melancholia at their very best. I know that this song is so much more than Italy but I have to say that they captured the feeling I have whenever I think of home

[miguelreal]

Beirut's underrated, there are only about a million people that really like this group

[jailbar]

My god, that was powerful. These guys are amazing.

[darrylwiggins]

Thank you, NPR, you guys are the best. Been listening for decades and have never been let down by your forward thinking and excellent programming. Exist Forever.

[victora.]

The girl with the yellow glasses at 3:19 is just priceless...

[bastesque]

The girl with the yellow glasses in the front row…that's me every time I listen to this masterpiece :)

[loganhalleran]

I'm glad to see Zach again, it feels like a new band though, not quite the happy go lucky kids in 2007

[giovannimori]

Damn, the drummer having serious fun out there

[bjlly]

One of the most beautiful things Ive ever heard

[cesare.ambrizaguilar]

That's the trumpet man from The National, isn't it? Gosh, this song will always remind me of the one that got away.

[brunohenrique]

Caraaa tinha que ter a opção amei aki tbm neh, parabéns pelo trabalho maravilhoso.. 💙🙏

[nambisobaka]

All those happy smiling faces. Wonderful track

[gregorpaul]

One of the best songs I've ever heard. Wunderbar!

[braindmgindustries]

I feel like a version in French would make my life complete

[henriquenelsonsilva]

Cadê os brasileiros que estão procurando a beleza nas músicas do Beirut para desviar a tristeza que é o Brasil na atualidade, neste triste início de 2021?

[diegomarinho]

Muito bom parabéns pessoal e obrigado pela essa bela música...