Album Review: A Study Of Losses by Beirut

If 2023's Hadsel was Zach Condon of Beirut emerging from a trough of depression, divorce, and vocal distress, with clear-eyed focus and a perverse sense of pleasure from the endless night and snow of the Norwegian surrounds he'd retreated to, A Study of Losses is a quiet acceptance and willingness to skate along the now even-tempered tide as daylight breaks and becomes abundant. As such, "Disappearances and Losses," the opening instrumental, acts like a prelude, with softened organ chords harking daybreak. Immediately, on "Forest Encyclopedia" there's a giving over to bigger forces--"I think I'll be thankful / Live like the breeze…Whoever you are / I'll leave the keys / Long past the time / Of my misery.

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At nearly an hour runtime, Beirut’s A Study of Losses is Zach Condon‘s most extended release to date. Condon was approached by Viktoria Dalborg, director of the Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, and asked if he would create music for their next project, based on the novel (translated as) An Inventory of Losses by the German author Judith Schalansky. If you’re thinking that’s a very specific request and relatively obscure, you’re not alone.

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