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Beirut have released “Gallipoli,” the first single off their forthcoming album of the same name, out Feb. 1, 2019, on 4AD. The album will be the band’s first since 2015’s No No No.
Beirut frontman Zach Condon shared a note last week detailing the history and conception of the record. “We stumbled into the medieval-fortressed island town of Gallipoli one night and followed a brass band procession fronted by priests carrying a statue of the town’s saint through the winding narrow streets behind what seemed like the entire town,” Condon wrote in the note. “The next day I wrote the song entirely in one sitting, pausing only to eat.”
Paste pondered the meaning of Gallipoli after the note was shared—was it a place? A song? An album? It appears now that it’s all three, as well as a time in Condon’s life. Condon said the album came to him after rediscovering his Farfisa organ, the instrument on which he wrote much of 2006’s Gulag Orkestar and 2007’s The Flying Club Cup. While the organ stayed at his home in New York, Condon began to spend more time in Berlin, eventually moving there to live full-time, which led to the aforementioned exodus through the streets of Gallipoli.
It’s that combination of nostalgia and new experiences that courses through the song “Gallipoli.” Condon’s unique brand of baroque pop is alive and well, full of joy, wonder and invention in equal measure. It shuffles like the religious procession Condon and company shadowed that fateful day in its namesake city. The flugelhorn rises, the timpani rolls and, of course, the Farfisa, too, fluttering along behind the whole thing, a reminder of where the band has come from. It’s a testament to how much has changed, and how little at the same time.
Beirut will be embarking on a 2019 international tour to support the release of Gallipoli. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. local time.
Listen to “Gallipoli” below and find Beirut’s newly announced tour dates further down. You can preorder Gallipoli here.
Beirut Tour Dates:
February
10 – New York, N.Y. @ Brooklyn Steel
11 – New York, N.Y @ Brooklyn Steel
12 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
14 – Washington, D.C. @ Anthem
15 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Tower
16 – Boston, Mass. @ Orpheum
18 – Montreal, Que. @ Metropolis
19 – Toronto, Ont. @ Sony Centre
21 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Pabst Theatre
22 – Chicago, Ill. @ Riviera
23 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ Palace Theatre
26 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Orpheum
27 – Seattle, Wash. @ Paramount
28 – Portland, Ore. @ Schnitzer
March
03 – Oakland, Calif. @ Fox
05 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Wiltern
30 – Berlin, Germany @ Funkhaus
31 – Berlin, Germany @ Funkhaus
April
02 – Brussels, Belgium @ Forest National
04 – Groningen, Germany @ Oosterpoort
05 – Paris, France @ Le Grand Rex
06 – Cologne, France @ Palladium
08 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ TivoliVrendenburg – Ronda
10 – Manchester, U.K. @ Albert Hall
11 – Leeds, U.K. @ Leeds Town Hall
12 – London, U.K. @ Eventim Apollo
14 – Vienna, Austria @ Gasometer
15 – Munich, Germany @ Zenith
18 – Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz
19 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Volkshaus