Beirut Releases A Study of Losses, Zach Condon’s Largest & Most Unexpected Album Yet

Beirut Client Information

18 April, 2025Print

Beirut Releases A Study of Losses, Zach Condon's Largest & Most Unexpected Album Yet

First Tour Dates in Six Years Sold Out, Select Shows To Feature Swedish Contemporary Circus Production That Inspired The Record

"His most beautiful record to date"

MOJO, ★★★★

Today, Beirut releases A Study of Losses: an 18-track odyssey commissioned by Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, and inspired by German author Judith Schalansky's novel Verzeichnis einiger Verluste, finding inspiration in everything from the lunar seas to fossil unicorns, the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, Roman ruins and the mysterious disappearance of a South Pacific eden. Out now on bandleader Zach Condon's own Pompeii Records, the new album is Beirut’s largest and most unexpected, as he explores the impermanence and preservation of everything known to us – extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures, the process of aging and other abstract concepts. Written and recorded by Condon in both Berlin, DE and Stokmarknes, NO, he is musically re-immersed in choir, renaissance and other early styles that have influenced Beirut’s best work, as A Study of Losses deepens his drive to embrace previously uncharted territory. While Zach Condon first began the Beirut project as an itinerant 14-year-old, this album arrives as his "most ambitious yet" (UNCUT) and "his most beautiful record to date" (MOJO), when just a few years back, he was fighting off throat issues and the near-mental collapse that had him doubting whether he'd ever perform again.

Listen to A Study of Losses Here

Accompanied by Kompani Giraff's array of choreography, shadow puppetry and stunning stage design, A Study of Losses spans jaunty modular synth experiments on highlights like "Guericke's Unicorn," haunting and undulating undercurrents on "Caspian Tiger,"darker edges on "Tuanaki Atoll," and elegant ukulele arrangements in "Villa Sacchetti,"on which Zach Condon says:

"The inspiration for this song came from a baroque Roman villa that became known again as a ruin, having been painted by Hubert Robert, a painter of the romantic era. I was intrigued by his semi-fictitious depiction of ruins, as I often find myself romanticizing what could have been over what was and the song partially took shape in such a state of mind.

I paired a simple piano waltz with ukulele in a style reminiscent of lute music I had been listening to, trying to capture the sleepy elegance of a once-great and then-abandoned pleasure house overlooking Rome.

Besides the topic being a great representation of the overall theme of the album and the book it’s based on, the thought of these classical buildings in ruins is something that particularly caught my attention. I have always longed to be where architecture mattered to the soul of the city in a way that our sprawling and soulless American urban landscapes could never fathom. Sometimes I wonder if the modern city and its architecture are the biggest cultural losses of all."

Brought to life by Kompani Giraff's acrobatic stage production of the same name, A Study of Losses marks the second new Beirut album in just two years, and the continuation of another prolific chapter for Zach Condon. From May 1st-May 9th, he returns to the road for Beirut's first tour since 2019. Backed by a new and returning ensemble of band members, Condon will also be joined by Kompani Giraff at dates in the Netherlands and Belgium, where attendees will experience A Study of Losses in its full form, combining the music with the sprawling, contemporary circus show that originally led to the album’s creation. Performances have been selling out quickly, with dates listed below and remaining tickets at beirutband.com/tour.

"When I was first approached about writing a soundtrack for a circus, a certain amount of 'Elephant Gun' era trauma initially came rushing up," says Zach Condon. "I had been pigeon-holed for years as a whimsical circus waif, full of sepia-toned images of penny farthings and perhaps lion tamers with handlebar moustaches. It couldn't have been further from how I pictured the music I was making. Ironic then, that I found Kompani Giraff's project so enticing."