In the four years since the last Beirut album, frontman Zach Condon has reportedly gone through a messy divorce. Condon was subsequently hospitalised for exhaustion and cancelled touring commitments. Thanks to a new relationship, and the extraordinary healing power of making music, Zach appears to have successfully set out on the road to recovery.
Despite the negative connotations of titling an album No No No, Condon’s vocals and arrangements are of a surprisingly sunny disposition. “I write sad songs when it’s nice outside,” he has suggested. “I write warm and happy songs when I’m up to my neck in snow for three months.”
Condon has often cut a colourful figure during his genre-blending adventures, once performing at Tripod clearly in a euphemistically “tired and emotional” state of mind and body. On No No No, Condon further refines his singular vision, orchestral indie-pop spliced with elements of world music.
The elegiac opening track ‘Gibraltar’ and the jaunty title single ‘No No No’, signal the happiest and most life-affirming Beirut release yet. Music really can cure life’s ills.