Zach Condon’s musical odyssey has previously taken the New Mexico singer-songwriter from brassy Balkan folk to French and Hispanic music. Along the way, he’s made albums everywhere from his teenage bedroom, a log cabin in upstate New York and the Italian town of Gallipoli. His sixth album as Beirut was conceived while he was living in an old wooden church on the Norwegian island of Hadseløya, seeking refuge from self-doubt, mental collapse, a cancelled tour and briefly career-threatening throat problems. He wrote the album on its 19th century wooden organ, informed by what he describes as the “unfathomable beauty” of the snowy mountains and fjords and the “awesome show” of the northern lights.
