115: Beirut - Caspian Tiger

I was lucky to travel to a few different countries this year, and on each trip I got lost, headphones in and far from home, in Beirut's album from last year - having not listened to Zach Condon's project for a good few years.

Hadsel, a gorgeous collection of hymnal pop songs, offers something both familiar (how could it not with that voice) but also a freshening of that signature sound; splashes of synth, creeping drum machines. It's a really beautiful record and I'd highly recommend it, even if you'd written them off, if you're not wandering around cobbled streets with the sun on your face...

A year on from that release, the band have recently release a new stand-alone song that fits into Hadsel's world while also sitting apart as it's own unique piece. Written as part of a soundtrack to a Swedish circus performance, Beirut have simply never sounded so engaging; a swirling, mesmerising four-minutes that aches with melancholy. A truly wonderful escape from the world.

When I was first approached about writing a soundtrack for a circus, a certain amount of Elephant Gun era trauma initially came rushing up. 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. I had been quietly avoiding the subject for years.

Check out the song alongside its equally-arresting video below.

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three / six / five is a daily music-sharing project from gold flake paint; read more about the idea here

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