Beirut’s latest single, Guericke’s Unicorn, is a bubbling, harmony-soaked synth-pop track that showcases Zach Condon’s trademark yearning vocals. It has a hopeful yet slightly wistful nature, striking a delicate balance between melancholy and optimism. Deliciously melodic and immediately attractive, the song is an intriguing outlier on the upcoming album A Study of Losses, hinting at an expansive and eclectic record.
Announced today, A Study of Losses arrives on April 18 via Condon’s own Pompeii Records. At 18 tracks, it’s the largest Beirut album to date and was originally commissioned as a soundtrack for Swedish circus Kompani Giraff’s acrobatic stage show of the same name. Inspired by Judith Schalansky’s novel Verzeichnis einiger Verluste, the album delves into themes of disappearance, preservation, and impermanence, touching on everything from extinct species to lost architectural wonders. Musically, Condon blends choral and Renaissance influences with the eclectic songwriting that has defined Beiruts sound, drawing inspiration from 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields.
Accompanying the single is a stunning video featuring Kompani Giraff’s choreography and shadow puppetry, further emphasizing the song’s playful yet slightly chaotic energy. Condon himself describes Guericke’s Unicorn as a ‘somewhat disjointed’track, rooted in an old modular synth experiment, and standing apart from the album’s predominantly baroque-leaning compositions.
Beirut will also embark on a short European tour this May, marking Condon’s first live performances since 2019. With a sold-out O2 Academy Brixton show on May 8, a second London date at Troxy has been added for May 9.
If Guericke’s Unicorn is any indication, A Study of Losses promises to be a rich and multi-layered addition to Beirut’s discography – ambitious, immersive, and as always full of the unexpected.
