Beirut announce new album with title-track "Gallipoli"

The new track is the title of Beirut's forthcoming record Gallipoli that was first conceived when Condon had his beloved Farfisa organ shipped to New York from his parent’s home in Santa Fe.

The organ is a crucial piece to Beirut's first music, having written his first two records Gulag Orkestar in 2006, and 2007's The Flying Club Cup on the instrument.

Beirut's new record was born between New York and Berlin, before Condon took Nick Petree and Paul Collins, and Gabe Wax (No No No's producer) to a studio in Puglia, southern Italy.

The track "Gallipoli" was penned, Condon explains, after, "We stumbled into a 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, before returning late to Sudestudio."

Condon adds, "The next day I wrote the song I ended up calling "Gallipoli" entirely in one sitting, pausing only to eat. I eventually dragged Nick (Petree) and Paul (Collins) in to add some percussion and bass around midnight after a trance-like ten hours of writing and playing. I was quite pleased with the result. It felt to me like a cathartic mix of all the old and new records and seemed to return me to the old joys of music as a visceral experience."

Condon describes, "The next month was a flurry of 12 to 16 hour days in the studio, with day trips around the coastline and a steady diet of pizza, pasta and tear-inducing ghost peppers we bought from the chili-man in Lecce."

Beirut's last record No No No arrived three years ago. You can read the full story behind the new Gallipoli record over at the Beirut site.

Tracklist:

1. When I Die
2. Gallipoli
3. Varieties of Exile
4. On Mainau Island
5. I Giardini
6. Gauze für Zah
7. Corfu
8. Landslide
9. Family Curse
10. Light in the Atoll
11. We Never Lived Here
12. Fin