Beirut announces new album “A Study Of Losses” out 18th April via Pompeii Records

On February 13, 2025

In News

Beirut

Shares lead single “Guericke’s Unicorn”

Announces second London show due to demand

Today, Zach Condon announces the release of the largest and most unexpected Beirut album to date. Out 18th April on his own Pompeii Records, A Study of Losses is an 18-track odyssey commissioned by Swedish circus Kompani Giraff for an acrobatic stage show of the same name. As a free interpretation of Verzeichnis einiger Verluste, the novel by German author Judith Schalansky, A Study of Losses journeys through eleven songs and seven extended instrumental themes, named after the lunar seas and inspired by the chilling tale of a man obsessed with archiving all of humanity’s lost thoughts and creations. LikeVerzeichnis einiger Verluste, A Study of Losses finds Condon writing about disappearance, preservation and the impermanence of everything known to us – extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures, the process of aging and other abstract concepts. But musically, he is re-immersed in choir, renaissance and other early styles that have inspired his work, as well as variations of sounds and ideas that draw upon one of his all-time favourite records, the Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs.

To accompany today’s announcement, and following last year’s “Caspian Tiger”, Beirut has shared new single “Guericke’s Unicorn” together with a video showcasing Kompani Giraff’s stunning choreography, shadow puppetry and stage design. Click HERE to watch.

Additionally, with Beirut’s O2 Academy Brixton show on 8th May having long-since sold out, a second London performance has been added at the Troxy on 9th May. All dates are listed below.

“Guericke’s unicorn is a supposed reconstruction of a fossil unicorn which was actually created from the bones of a bunch of different animals like the woolly mammoth and a narwhal. It’s worth looking up the image”, says Zach Condon. “I’ve always been fascinated by these kinds of bizarre chapters and odd side notes of history, and I wanted to reflect the unorthodox / eccentric madness of that ‘unicorn’ in a more playful song that is somewhat disjointed from the rest of the album. I think my music can have that disjointed / chaotic tendency in general, but with the whole album otherwise being somewhat uniformly baroque inspired, ‘Guericke’s Unicorn’ really makes for an outlier on this record, having its origin in an old modular synth experiment of mine.”

(credit: Lina Gaißer)

A Study of Losses is the second new Beirut album in just two years, and the continuation of another characteristically prolific chapter for Zach Condon. Following half a decade spent recovering from persistent throat issues and impending mental collapse – leaving him questioning whether he would ever perform in front of an audience again – A Study of Losses arrives on the heels of Hadsel which was released to universal acclaim in November 2023. Whereas Hadsel was centred around a towering, antique church organ that Condon discovered during a dark arctic winter in Northern Norway, A Study of Losses is brightened by string quartets and arrangements from cellist and “No No No” collaborator Clarice Jensen.

Written and recorded by Zach Condon in both Berlin, DE and Stokmarknes, NO, with the album’s roots spanning Sweden and Germany, A Study of Losses also expands the wide world that he has built through the music of Beirut, ever since he first began the project as a curious and itinerant 14-year-old. “When I was first approached about writing a soundtrack for a circus, a certain amount of ‘Elephant Gun’ era trauma initially came rushing up,” as Condon explained, when sharing A Study of Losses’ “Caspian Tiger” the end of 2024. “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.”

While A Study of Losses begins another stretch of performances this week, transcending both concert and theater, Zach Condon will soon return to the road for Beirut’s first tour since 2019. From May 1st-9th, Condon will be backed by a new and returning ensemble of band members, playing sets that span Beirut’s discography and A Study of Losses. Venues include Netherlands’ TivoliVredenburg, Belgium’s Cirque Royal and the UK’s O2 Academy Brixton, which is now sold out. Due to overwhelming demand, a second UK date has just been added at London’s Troxy; tickets to the newly announced Troxy show are available at 10am GMT tomorrow, February 14th, with the rest of the tour on-sale now at beirutband.com/tour.

May 1 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg – Grote Zaal

May 2 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg – Grote Zaal

May 5 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal

May 6 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal

May 8 – London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton *(SOLD-OUT!)*

May 9 London, UK – Troxy