Beirut; The Flying Club Cup BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Ambitious and slightly eccentric pop music doesn't come much more ambitious and eccentric as this, the second album by Zach Condon (aka Beirut), an American with a European sensibility whose musical reach encompasses indie Anglopop, French chanson, nods to Scott Walker, hints of Spanish or mariachi music, snippets of conversations, swooning choruses, quasi-choral passages . . .

There is an elegant melodrama here and Condon doesn't worry about stretching himself in the musical arrangements of songs with evocative titles such as Nantes, Cliquot, In The Mausoleum and Cherbourg.

Very diverting listening indeed. This ensemble -- they feel more like an ensemble than a band -- ar something special.