Don't pigeonhole Zach Condon, leader of the band Beirut. Not satisfied with one album inspired by Balkan brass bands and another by French chanson, or by collaborations with Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear, Condon will return next year with a double EP in two more styles - bedroom electronica and Mexican funeral marches.
"The acoustic stuff is a very new thing [for me]," Condon explained this week to Pitchfork Media. "I spent years and years doing electronic music. And it's funny, I decided to put them both together just because I thought: why not? If you like the acoustic stuff, it shouldn't be that difficult to like both."
The first half of the release, March of the Zapotec, was inspired and partially recorded in Teotitlan del Valle, near Oaxaca, Mexico. After a contact in Mexico sent him information about the region's funeral music, Condon "started to look it up on YouTube to see what these bands looked like, to see how they worked and stuff. I kind of fell in love with the sound." Beirut then flew down to play alongside a "naive, martial-sounding funeral band" - one that essentially comprised "the entire town".
Other bits and pieces were recorded elsewhere, including a stint at Grizzly Bear's church studio - with Chris Taylor on saxophone.
The record's second half is an EP called Holland, credited to Realpeople - an earlier alias from when Condon was "growing into music".
"Let's say there's a month when I'm a little sick of hearing the songs I'm recording," Condon explained. "I'll slink back to my parents' house and very quietly record these epic synth-pop tracks, and kind of clear the palate and get back into it. They're different aspects of my personality."
These songs are longer, comprising a few movements, but are still "very brass-heavy, very squawky, with these constant churning rhythms". Though some of the tracks have appeared elsewhere - including a charity compilation curated by Natalie Portman - others are new.
2009 will also see Beirut return to gigging - scheduling their first tour since a swathe of cancelled European dates this summer. "It was a rough year," Condon admitted. "I felt that at some point I completely lost touch with my own songs, and home life was nonexistent. I would come back from touring, I would still be living like I was on tour. Just passing the time."
"I make no secret about the fact that I was way in over my head. And it seemed like the only way to stop the cycle was to just stop it completely, stop the train."
In just two weeks, the train starts up again. March of the Zapotec/Holland will be released in Europe on November 16.
