Related Articles
Beirut, or indie-folk singer-songwriter Zach Condon, has shared the cautiously hopeful “The Tern,” the latest single from his upcoming album Hadsel.
“The base of this song comes from an old Roland synthesizer and drum machine part which I had lying around from a previous Berlin session,” Condon said of the track in a statement.
“The lyrics I improvised on the spot and finished the song off by adding layers of church organs and hand percussion. I stacked the parts high despite always being afraid of overdoing it. In the end I was confused how I had written such a seemingly positive and even hopeful song, but once I took a closer look at the lyrics, I saw the real nature of the hidden defeat and triumph of caution rather than of hope.”
As Condon previously revealed, Hadsel, due out November 10, was inspired by his time on the titular Norwegian island, where he escaped to after persistent throat issues forced him to cancel his 2019 tour.
“During my time in Hadsel, I worked hard on the music, lost in a trance and stumbling blindly through my own mental collapse that I had been pushing aside since I was a teenager,”Condon said in a statement.
“It came and rang me like a bell. I was left agonizing many things past and present while the beauty of the nature, the northern lights and fearsome storms played an awesome show around me. The few hours of light would expose the unfathomable beauty of the mountains and the fjords, and the hours-long twilights would fill me with subdued excitement. I’d like to believe that scenery is somehow present in the music.”
Condon, having recovered from his throat issues, has also announced his first live shows since 2019, with Beirut set to perform a pair of February 2024 gigs in his now-native Berlin, with these two Hadsel shows as his only planned performances.
