The best album to come out of Albuquerque since {$the Shins} decamped for the Pacific Northwest, the debut album by {$Beirut} (aka New Mexico-born 19-year-old {\singer/songwriter} {$Zach Condon}) bears an immediate resemblance both to Denver's {$DeVotchKa} and the current passions of the Athens, GA, crowd formerly associated with the {@Elephant 6} stable. Like {$DeVotchKa}, {$Condon} is heavily influenced by Eastern {\European folk} music and, to a lesser extent, the {\mariachi} trumpets and {\Latin} rhythms of the desert Southwest: the songs on {^Gulag Orkestar} are lousy with mandolins and similarly plinky members of the string instrument family, accordions, horns, and hand percussion clearly played with dramatic in-studio arm flourishes. But like the Athens folks (some of whom appear here in a supporting role, most notably {^A Hawk and a Hacksaw}'s {$Jeremy Barnes}), {$Condon} isn't interested in mere approximations of {\traditional} forms. {$Condon} and friends use the {\folk} instruments primarily as really cool-sounding textures, exotic backdrops for {$Condon}'s melodic indie {\folk} tunes and impressionistic lyrics. The lyrics, it must be said, are the album's most obvious flaw, clearly the work of a young, romantically inclined teen who has never been to Europe but has seen a lot of foreign art films about, like, Gypsies 'n' stuff. Ignore the clunky lyrics -- easy enough to do since {$Condon} is an unexpectedly appealing singer with a rich, mellifluous voice that, no kidding, recalls the great bel canto crooners of the pre-{\rock} era (along with a little {$Nick Cave}) -- and {^Gulag Orkestar} is an infinitely more appealing album. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide