March Of The Zapotec/Holland [EP] Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

  • Summary: The first of the double EP set, March of the Zapotec, features Mexican music influences, whereas the second, Holland, includes songs made by Zach Condon under the name Realpeople.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 23
  2. Negative: 1 out of 23
  1. These are two distinctively different sounding EPs but they are successfully united by Condon’s never-failing trademarks: wonderful vocal lines, linear melodic patterns and that soothing voice.
  2. His trademark woozy laments and waltzing rhythms are present, but buried beneath layers of tumbling horns they seem much richer, with the charming languor of his voice twisting the mariachi saunter into something dark. Strangely, it’s the synth-pop gems of second EP Holland that seem the most foreign.
  3. 60
    The ensuing synthetic pop suite can't disguise a crucial lack of memorable songs. [Mar 2009, p.111]
  4. There seems to be something unsettlingly artifical about the whole Beirut project, as if idea man Zach Condon is playing some strange cultural appropriation game for which he’s the only one privy to the rules.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. 8
    It was hard to follow up after how good their last album was. These EPs are both good, better than decent but still I am not sure how I feel about the new sounds. Expand