Pitchfork

Photo by Danelle Manthay

Before we even had a chance to miss them, Beirut are back with their second album, the one Zach Condon discussed at length in a Pitchfork interview last month. Although Condon suggested LP2 would bear the name The Flying Club Cup, the official title has not yet been announced-- but we do have some tasty tidbits to tide you over until that time.

Indeed, it's a tracklist, and holy Moses, a release date. The former, complete with a track #0 (whatever the hell that means-- maybe you have to hit the "rewind" button on your CD player past 0:00 on the first track?), can be yours to cherish and share just after the jump. Calendars ready? The latter is October 9, a day that will go down in infamy as the day a little band that could called Beirut dropped their second album (via Ba Da Bing!).

The new album was mixed and mastered by Griffin Rodriguez (of Icy Demons and Bablicon) and features string arrangements and guest vocals from Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett. It includes many of the act's first tunes laid to tape since Beirut evolved from boy-in-bedroom (as on last year's smash Gulag Orkestar) to boy-with-bodacious- band-at-his-disposal (as on this year's Lon Gisland EP).

Just don't expect Beirut's beloved Balkanisms on this one. As Condon told us last month, "I was listening to a lot of Jacques Brel and French chanson music-- pop songs shrouded in big, glorious, over-the-top arrangements and all this drama...very much throwing myself in the world of classical pop music" while writing and recording the latest LP.

And in fact, a Brel cover turns up on the flip of the latest Beirut single, "Elephant Gun", which the 4AD crew fires off in the UK on June 25.

Catch Beirut across Europe this summer, and back in North America for a couple week's worth of dates this fall-- with the exquisite Colleen opening.

Tracklist:

00 A Call to Arms
01 Nantes
02 A Sunday Smile
03 Guyamas Sonora
04 La Banlieu
05 Cliquot
06 The Penalty
07 Forks and Knives (La Fête)
08 In the Mausoleum
09 Un Dernier Verre (Pour la Route)
10 Cherbourg
11 St. Apollonia
12 The Flying Club Cup

Zach attack:

06-22 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
06-24 Pilton, England - Jazz World Stage (Glastonbury Festival)
06-26 London, England - KOKO *
06-28 Malta, Poland - Malta Festival
06-30 Istanbul, Turkey - Radar Festival
07-03 Paris, France - Trabendo *
07-05 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof *
07-08 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-10 Athens, Greece - Vrahon Theater (Gagarin Open Air Festival)
09-23 Princeton, NJ - Terrace F Club #
09-24 New York, NY - Society for Ethical Culture (Wordless Music Series) #
09-26 New York, NY - Delacorte Theater #
09-30 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa #
10-02 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall #
10-04 Chicago, IL - Portage Theater #
10-08 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theater #
10-09 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theater #
10-10 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon #

* with Dirty Projectors
# with Colleen