Beirut Returns From Norway's Dark Arctic Depths with New Album Hadsel, Out Today on Zach Condon's Own Pompeii Records

Today, Zach Condon turns the page on the next chapter of Beirut. With the release of Hadsel, his first new album in nearly five years, he brings the project back to its solitary yet self-assured roots, exploring new sounds and foreign settings while proving to himself that he can once again manage on his own. Across the collection of 12 songs – written, performed and produced by Zach Condon, between a remote region of Northern Norway and his current home city of Berlin – he builds awe-inspiring arrangements that draw warmth, solace, hope and triumph out of the most extreme darkness he has experienced. From the opening bursts of the towering, antique church organ that formed the foundation of the record, the world of Hadsel is "immense and startling," as Uncut describes in an 8/10 review. Hadsel has earned further praise and support from Esquire, Associated Press, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and many more, and Condon recently sat down with host Ari Shapiro for a deep conversation on NPR's All Things Considered. Hear the two of them talk about the throat complications, fateful tour cancellation, arctic journey and near mental collapse that led to the album's creation on Wednesday, November 15th.

Listen to Hadsel, out now via Zach Condon's own Pompeii Records and Secretly Distribution: https://beirut.lnk.to/Hadsel

Since first starting Beirut as a wanderlusting 14-year-old, Zach Condon has amassed millions of fans, performed across the world's illustrious stages, and remained one of the most consistently inspired and endlessly curious forces in independent music. From the Balkan brass that influenced his debut Gulag Orkestar LP, to the Italian town where Gallipoli was made, and the Norwegian island that inspired Hadsel's title and creation, Condon continues to embrace previously uncharted territory. But before making this album, he questioned whether he would ever be able to play a live show again. 

On February 16th and 17th, Zach Condon will return to the stage for Beirut's first live shows since 2019. At Berlin's magnificent Tempodrom, Condon will be joined by an ensemble of new and returning band members including Aaron Arntz (piano), Ben Lanz (trombone/sousaphone/piano), Clarice Jensen (cello), Griffin Rodriguez (bass), Kyle Resnick (trumpet), Nick Petree (drums/percussion) and a string section. As the only concerts he plans to perform in support of Hadsel, Condon will expand the songs into a sweeping, collective experience of beauty and wonder. Tickets are available now at beirutband.com/tour. On the story behind the album, Zach Condon explains: 

"After the fiasco of having to cancel large parts of the tours in 2019 I was looking for a place to recover. I was left in a state of shock and severe self-doubt, feeling like I had let down not only thousands of fans but also my band and myself. The darkness of winter had always been a solace to me in times past. Seeking the most extreme version of that, I dreamt of going to a small cabin in the dark arctic winter where the sun never rises above the horizon. 

In the first days of 2020, I arrived on Hadsel, an island in the middle of Vesterålen, far up in the northern part of Norway. The cabin I rented had a beautiful view of the mountains and water but my personal highlight was that it came complete with a pump organ on 'infinite' loan from an organ-loving neighbor. This unique instrument is what had inspired me to bring my studio with me, a nightmare transit process that I was too stubborn to avoid. How I thought of this as a form of retreat and rejuvenation I will never know. I believe at this point my friends and family were convinced I had lost my mind, or would do so in the polar night.

 In my time there I became friends with some of the families who lived in the nearby houses and was introduced to the fellow organ-enthusiast and collector named Oddvar. Being one of the stand-in organists, he was able to give me access to the local church down the road. So it was in Hadselkirke, a beautiful octagonal wood construction from the early 1800s, where for the first time in my life I sat at the keys of a real church organ. For the following two months I would come and go from the church with my microphones and tape machine, working out songs through the dark and snowy nights.

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."