The Flying Club Cup by Beirut

The Flying Club Cup, Beirut's second album, came out on 4AD on October 9, 2007, after an early iTunes release that September. Zach Condon, who started Beirut in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2006 and remains its only constant member, follows the Balkan-flavored brass of Gulag Orkestar with a record that widens the lens, and Owen Pallett, the Arcade Fire contributor once known as Final Fantasy, supplies the string arrangements.

It's a woozy, romantic sound: mournful horns and Pallett's strings swirling around Condon's big, crooning voice, with Nick Petree on drums and Paul Collins on bass keeping the sway steady. Indie folk rarely sounds this cinematic or this far from home. "Nantes" is the song that stuck, still turning up on countdowns more than a decade later.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.