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Beirut

A Study Of Losses

'A Study Of Losses' is the seventh studio album from Beirut, the musical project of Zach Condon. The project originated in spring 2023, when Viktoria Dalborg, director at the Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, reached out to Condon, asking if he would be interested to provide the music for their next project, a show based on an adaptation of a novel by German author Judith Schalansky. The main themes in Schalansky's book and in the adaptation for the circus show deal with the concept of loss and the impermanence of everything known to us: from extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures to more abstract concepts of loss through the process of aging. In close collaboration, 'A Study Of Losses', turned into a rather unexpected piece of music-at 18 songs and nearly an hour long, it is by far the largest album Beirut has ever done, and amongst some of their most beautiful work to date

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another superb suite of thoughtful, wandering melodies and swooning harmonies from Condon here, this time commissioned for a contemporary Swedish circus. Though Beirut's albums are usually quick bursts of emphatic, mournful melodicism, 'A Study Of Losses' is a decidedly more expansive operation. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Disappearances And Losses
2. Forest Encyclopedia
3. Oceanus Procellarum
4. Villa Sacchetti
5. Mare Crisium
6. Garbo's Face
7. Mare Imbrium
8. Tuanaki Atoll
9. Mare Serenitatis
10. Guericke's Unicorn
11. Mare Humorum
12. Sappho's Poems
13. Ghost Train
14. Caspian Tiger
15. Mani's 7 Books
16. Moon Voyager
17. Mare Nectaris
18. Mare Tranquillitatis

Beirut

Hadsel

Hadsel is the first new full-length record since Beirut’s 2019 release, “Gallipoli,” and the first on Zach Condon’s own label, Pompeii Records. Recorded in the Norwegian island of Hadsel shortly after a physical and mental break forced Condon to cancel is 2019 tour, Condon was looking for a place to recover after being left in a state of shock and self-doubt.

Working in isolation, Condon explains, “I was lost in a trance, stumbling blindly through my own mental collapse that I had been pushing aside since I was a teenager. It came and rang me like a bell. I was left agonising many things past and present while the beauty of the nature, the northern lights and fearsome storms played an awesome show around me. The few hours of light would expose the unfathomable beauty of the mountains and the fjords, and the hours- long twilights would fill me with subdued excitement. I’d like to believe that scenery is somehow present in the music.

The resulting is collection of songs beautifully reflect that vulnerability, sense of self-determination and belief that after collapse, one can learn to manage on their own again.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hadsel takes the foundation so perfectly laid by Beirut's extensive discography and moves the whole kit and/or caboodle into the icy climes of Norway. It's not dampened any of the warmth in Condon's music, but it lends a certain crystalline beauty and swimming, airy sparsity. Evocative and beautiful throughout.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Hadsel
2. Arctic Forest
3. Baion
4. So Many Plans
5. Melbu
6. Stokmarknes


SIDE B
7. Island Life
8. Spillhaugen
9. January 18th
10. Süddeutsches Ton-Bild
11. The Tern
12. Regulatory

Beirut

Artifacts

Artifacts began humbly as a means of compiling a few early Beirut EPs for a proper physical release. However, as Zach Condon explains in album’s excellent liner notes, reconnecting with old recordings through fresh ears turned a simple re-issue project into something much more expansive. “When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add to the compilation. What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records-worth of music from my past, and a larger project of remixing and remastering everything I found for good measure.”

Artifacts is a phylogenetic tree. A double-LP’s worth music that traces the evolution of Beirut from a 14-year old Condon’s first attempts at bringing the music he heard in his mind to life, to the fully formed Beirut we know today.



STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An essential collection of early Beirut bits and pieces, lovingly reworked and remastered by condon, and brought out with a lovely booklet explaining the pieces. Including possibly my favourite Beirut work, The Lon Gisland EP. Ace

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
01. Elephant Gun
02. My Family's Role In The World Revolution
03. Scenic World
04. The Long Island Sound
05. Carousels
06. Transatantique
07. O Leãozinho
SIDE B
08. Autumn Tall Tales
09. Fyodor Dormant
10. Poisoning Claude
11. Bercy
12. Your Sails
13. Irrlichter
SIDE C
14. Sicily
15. Now I'm Gone
16. Napoleon On The Bellerophon
17. Interior Of A Dutch House
18. Fountains And Tramways
19. Hot Air Balloon
SIDE D
20. Fisher Island Sound
21. So Slowly
22. Die Treue Zum Ursprung
23. The Crossing
24. Zagora
25. Le Phare Du Cap Bon
26. Babylon


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