Beirut’s Gallipoli isn’t just another entry in the band’s geography-obsessed discography—it’s a full-circle moment. Zach Condon, who built a career on the romance of faraway places, has settled into Berlin and, for the first time in a while, let the music come naturally. That means dusting off his old organs, embracing his signature sound, and letting himself be as Beirut as possible.
“There’s a very unique sound to the band, and you don’t hear much of it nowadays,” he says. “I realized I like that. I like holding this space that’s missing in music.”
Indiana Jones, Tintin, and the Urge to Escape
Beirut’s music has always felt like a postcard from somewhere else. But where does that come from? Turns out, it might be Indiana Jones and Tintin’s fault.
“I probably liked Indiana Jones too much as a kid,” Condon admits. “And Tintin—that’s how I started learning French.”
That longing for adventure has always crept into his music, whether through the globetrotting instrumentation or the way his voice carries like a foghorn through the streets of some unnamed European city.
Why Berlin?
Condon recently made the move from New York to Berlin, joining a long list of artistic expats (including Bob Mould, who he’s run into). But it wasn’t just a search for cheaper rent—Berlin’s experimental music scene and anti-ladder-climbing approach to art drew him in.
“The work being created there is so genuine,” he explains. “There’s no sense of trying to climb the industry ladder. People are just doing the work for the work.”
It’s a stark contrast to New York, which, as he bluntly puts it, “is turning into Disneyland.”
The Most “Beirut” Beirut Album
After struggling with writer’s block on his last album, Gallipoli was a return to form. He dusted off his Farisa organ, leaned into city-name song titles, and let his instincts take over.
“The last album, I was forcing myself into new directions,” he says. “This time, I let myself write the most Beirut album I could—no shame, no self-consciousness.”
That means tracks like Gauze für Zah, which, despite sounding like some obscure German phrase, is actually just shorthand for “Gauze for Zach”—a song that felt like a Band-Aid after a rough stretch of songwriting.
Game of Thrones, Ennio Morricone, and Knights in the Desert
If you’ve seen the video for Landslide, you know it’s a cinematic fever dream—knights, deserts, and a protagonist who looks like he’s been through some stuff. Turns out, it was meant to channel El Topo, the cult spaghetti western.
“That was the first thing the director wrote in the treatment,” Condon says. “And that hooked me. I was already pulling from Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota—so why not go full spaghetti western?”
The lead actor? A Game of Thrones veteran. “I love the show,” Condon laughs. “It’s just good fun.”
A Cathartic Image of the End
The first song Condon wrote for the album was also the one that set its entire tone: When I Die.
He was preparing to leave New York and wrote the lyrics as a sort of half-joking, half-serious shrug at mortality: “What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll die, and that’s it.”
It’s a bold way to kick off an album, but for Beirut, melancholy and beauty have always gone hand in hand.
Listen to the interview above and check out the "Landslide" below.
