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Mar 18, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Lina Gaißer

Beirut (aka Zach Condon and his band) is releasing a new album, A Study of Losses, recorded for a Swedish circus, on April 18 via Condon’s own Pompeii label. Now he has shared its latest single, “Tuanaki Atoll.” Listen below.

Condon had this to say about the song in a press release: “The Tuanaki Atoll is said to have been an Eden-like island somewhere in the South Pacific that mysteriously disappeared under the sea during an earthquake in the 1840s. Its inhabitants were described as a people so peaceful and generous that they had no word in their language for such things as war or murder. It might be almost too obvious of a choice but nothing could fit the island vibes better than a sweet and breezy ukulele which became the foundation that I built this song around. Contrastingly yet somewhat fittingly, the lyrics took on a darker edge and ended up reflecting that side of the story. Maybe because personally I doubt that such an Eden-like place could ever exist on Earth.”

A Study of Losses includes “Caspian Tiger,” a song that Beirut released last November. When the album was announced, Beirut shared another new song from it, “Guericke’s Unicorn,” via a music video. It was one of our Songs of the Week.

Swedish circus Kompani Giraff commissioned A Study of Losses to accompany an acrobatic stage show of the same name. The show and album are both a free interpretation of a novel by German author Judith Schalansky, Verzeichnis einiger Verluste. A previous press release said the novel is “the chilling tale of a man obsessed with archiving all of humanity’s lost thoughts and creations.”

Condon wrote and recorded the album in Berlin, Germany and Stokmarknes, Norway.

“When I was first approached about writing a soundtrack for a circus, a certain amount of ‘Elephant Gun’ era trauma initially came rushing up,” he said in the previous press release. “I had been pigeonholed 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.”

A Study of Losses follows 2023’s Hadsel, 2019’s Gallipoli, and the 2022 compilation album, Artifacts.

For Beirut’s upcoming tour dates Condon will be joined by both previous band mates and new ones and will be performing both music from A Study of Losses, as well as music from across Beirut’s discography.

Read our 2007 cover story interview with Beirut.

Beirut Tour Dates:

May 1 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg - Grote Zaal
May 2 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg - Grote Zaal - SOLD OUT
May 5 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal - SOLD OUT
May 6 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
May 8 - London, UK - O2 Academy Brixton* - SOLD OUT
May 9 - London, UK - Troxy*

*w/ Efterklang

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