I only have one experience with Beirut, their set at the 2012 FYF fest, and I thought they were the apogee of an indie band, mixing Mexico-via-the-Balkans world music, using lots of instruments including accordion, old-fashioned upright bass, ukulele, and abundantly injecting horns and trumpets into a reinvented folklore. At the top of this, there was frontman Zach Condon’s charming and romantic croon, in the middle of a sort of circus ambiance, and they were looking like these brass bands of Eastern-European, bringing up some waltz-y rhythms with Mexican trumpets. They were cool and very well received by the crowd.
They hadn’t released anything since 2011, but they have just announced their fourth album, ‘No No No’, due on September 11th via 4AD. Four years may be or may not be a long time in term of creation, but Zach Condon had a real good reason to take his time. According to a press release, he went through a divorce and suffered a physical and mental breakdown in 2013. He was even admitted to an Australian hospital in late 2013, canceled the band’s tour, and retreated to his Williamsburg home.
‘I couldn’t fathom how one day I was capable of it and one day I wasn’t,.’…‘I had completely broken down and my body was making me pay for it. For the first time in my life, I was facing extreme self doubt. I had hit rock bottom.’
However, he started a new relationship and this was a rebirth: ‘Having a positive presence like her both provides a healthy guiding force and shines a light on all the negative things in your life. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am now without her.’
That’s cute. And after a retreat in Turkey during the summer of 2014 (she is Turkish), the country became their second home, and Condon found inspiration again…who said you have to be depressed to be creative? This story seems to demonstrate the total opposite.By the way, ‘No No No’ may have been conceived during summer but it was recorded in Brooklyn during this winter’s coldest months.
The title track is an exotic slow dance, not island-exotic, more eastern-Europe-exotic with lots of horns kicking in, but the new song seems more stripped down that Beirut’s previous work, like an hybrid version of a poppy folklore. Listen to it below.
Here is the tracklist of ‘No No No’
01 Gibraltar
02 No No No
03 At Once
04 August Holland
05 As Needed
06 Perth
07 Pacheco
08 Fener
09 So Allowed
Plus, Beirut will be on tour soon:
06-19 Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theatre
06-26 Montreal, Québec – Festival International de Jazz de Montreal
06-28 Ottawa, Ontario – Ottawa Jazz Festival
07-16 Pemberton, British Columbia – Pemberton Music Festival
08-22 Portland, OR – Musicfest NW
09-14 Brussels, Belgium – Ancienne Belgique
09-17 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
09-20 Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
09-22 Paris, France – Zenith
09-24 London, England – Brixton Academy
10-01 New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
10-04 Santa Fe, NM – Santa Fe National Historic Landmark
10-06 San Diego, CA – Open Air Theatre
10-07-08 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
10-10 Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre
10-13 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
11-03 Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre
11-06 Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theatre
11-07 Boston, MA – House of Blues
11-10 Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
10-13-14 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall
