I saw Beirut last year and they were good. They seem more of a live band than a studio band, which may be obvious given the nature of the music.
My feeling about The Rip Tide is it's catchy yet hollow, like the instruments aren't used to their potential. There's a too-much-in-your-face quality with the vocals and piano that makes it hard to listen through despite its length of only 33 minutes.
That would explain the lack of a distinctive style as found in previous albums.
The best tracks are "Port of Call" and the title track. The climax of the former was a lot more aggressive live. The video for "Santa Fe" is decent:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN-5XUqe1PQ"]Beirut - Santa Fe - YouTube[/ame]
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