Remember last summer when your spazzy friend told you to listen to an album of old world music a nineteen year-old kid from Albuquerque made in his bedroom? And you were totally skeptical but the album title, The Gulag Orkestar, made you listen anyway?
And then remember how you listened to it over and over until Beirut released another EP, which was even more awesome because it was recorded with an eight-member orchestra, including members of Neutral Milk Hotel? And you suddenly became the spazzy friend telling, no, begging, other people to listen to Beirut?
Good news. It’s time again to be ultra-spazzy because the now twenty-one year-old Zach Condon, father of the Beirut project, has set a release date and given the track list for his upcoming full-length.
You’ll be able to hear the album October 9th from Ba Da Bing! featuring the same eight musicians from last December’s Lon Gisland EP. A proper follow-up, this album will carry on Beirut’s unique “gypsy pop” sound but with a decidedly amorous focus on French culture, evident in song titles such as “La Banlieu,” “Cliquot,” and “Cherbour.” The album, yet to be named, also includes a track zero to meet this year’s album-with-a-secret-track quota.
Track List:
0. A Call To Arms
1. Nantes
2. A Sunday Smile
3. Guyamas Sonora
4. La Banlieu
5. Cliquot
6. The Penalty
7. Forks and Knives (La Fête)
8. In The Mausoleum
9. Un Dernier Verre (Pour la Route)
10. Cherbourg
11. St. Apollonia
12. The Flying Club Cup
Condon, fully recovered from the extreme exhaustion that caused a hospitalization and tour cancellation late last year, will also be touring North America for two short weeks this fall. Solo cellist Colleen will open to promote her recent release on The Leaf Label.
September 23rd – Terrace F Club, Princeton, NJ
September 24th – Worldess Music Series @ Society for Ethical Culture, New York, NY
September 26th – Delacorte Theater, New York, NY
September 30th – La Salla Rosa, Montreal, QU
October 2nd – Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ONT
October 4th – Portage Theater, Chicago, IL
October 8th – Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA
October 9th – Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA
October 10th – Avalon, Los Angeles, CA
Beirut: “Elephant Gun”
Photo credit: Kristianna Smith