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Today, alongside the announcement of the project’s first tour in six years, Zach Condon has shared a brilliant new Beirut single. Out now on his own Pompeii Records, “Caspian Tiger” follows Condon’s 2023 album, Hadsel, an acclaimed and long-awaited return that marked “a new beginning for Beirut,” praised Pitchfork, calling it “a record born of despair and solitude that still feels full of life.” But where Hadsel was a “blend of loss, adventure, and acceptance” (Esquire) – centered around the towering, antique church organ that Condon discovered during a dark arctic winter in Northern Norway, recovering from an impending mental collapse on a remote island – “Caspian Tiger” introduces an entirely different journey.

Concerned with concepts of disappearance, preservation and the impermanence of everything known to us, “Caspian Tiger” is part of the soundtrack that Zach Condon recently composed for Swedish contemporary circus company Kompani Giraff’s international touring production, A Study of Losses. While the stage performance serves as a free interpretation of German author Judith Schalansky's novel, Verzeichnis einiger Verluste, the song finds Condon reimmersed in choir, renaissance and other early musical obsessions that have inspired his work. From a lone piano, “Caspian Tiger” ascends into a sublime array of voices and instruments, with soaring harmonies reverberating over one mournful but moving melodic motif.

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Listen to “Caspian Tiger,” and see it brought to life in the choreography and accompanying video from A Study of Losses, coming to Stockholm, Sweden’s Dansens Hus, Dec 27-Jan 5: WATCH

Aside from three tremendous, sold-out concerts at Berlin’s Tempodrom this past February (one of which can now be seen in full via Arte), Condon has not brought Beirut back on the road since 2019, when persistent throat issues forced him to cancel all remaining live shows, and left him questioning whether he would ever perform in front of an audience again. That changes this coming spring, with a run of five special dates at the Netherlands’ TivoliVredenburg, Belgium’s Cirque Royal and UK’s O2 Academy Brixton. From May 1st-8th, 2025, Zach Condon will be backed by a new and returning ensemble of band members, performing a set that spans Beirut’s discography, as well as a selection of yet-to-be-released music. He’ll have more news to share soon, ahead of those 2025 tour dates. 

Tickets to all of Beirut’s EU dates are on-sale at 10am GMT on Thursday, November 21st, with pre-sales beginning at 10am GMT on Monday, November 18th. Find tickets and more information at beirutband.com/tour  

"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.

Ironic then, that I found Kompani Giraff’s project so enticing, and writing something for acrobats to perform so enjoyable. ‘Caspian Tiger’ was one of the first songs I wrote for the new album, with images in mind of the poor animals caged or fighting in Roman colosseums. They had been taken from the Asian steppes around the Caspian Sea and from as far east as Tashkent, an area I’ve been fascinated by for years. The sonic influence came in large part from choir music that I was obsessing over at the time. 

Perhaps I subconsciously aimed to embrace and even improve on the imagery I had been originally written off for." 

-  Zach Condon

Beirut Tour Dates

May 1 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg - Grote Zaal

May 2 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg - Grote Zaal

May 5 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal

May 6 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal

May 8 - London, UK - O2 Academy Brixton