Beirut mastermind Zach Condon detailed an archival collection, Artifacts, set for release via Condon’s Pompeii Records digitally on January 28 and physically on March 4, 2022. Beirut also shared the previously unreleased track, “Fisher Island Sound.”
Press materials for Artifacts described the compilation as “a double-LP’s worth of music that traces the evolution of Beirut from a 14-year old Condon’s first attempts at bringing the music he heard in his mind to life, to the fully formed Beirut we know today,” the press materials noted. The project began as a way to compile early Beirut EPs into a physical release but became something more as Condon delved into his archives.
“When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add to the compilation,” Zach wrote of the evolution of the project in the Artifacts liner notes. “What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records-worth of music from my past, and a larger project of remixing and remastering everything I found for good measure.”
One of those previously unreleased tracks is “Fisher Island Sound,” which Condon also detailed:
This song was written while staying in band member Ben Lanz’s old family cottage on the coast of Connecticut, on the Fisher Island Sound. I played with the lines for years before trying to record versions of it in Brooklyn with the band. Perrin Cloutier had taught himself how to play a new button accordion beautifully, and the band was really sounding their best. I however, struggled in those years to put vocals on the songs and ended up scrapping a lot of the music from that era in this part of the collection due to fear, stress and self-doubt. I’ve come to rediscover some of these old songs in a different light since then, but they do remain a heavy reminder of unsteady times.
Listen to “Fisher Island Sound” below:
Artifacts Tracklist:
Side A – Lon Gisland, Transatlantique, O Leãozinho
- Elephant Gun
- My Family’s Role In The World Revolution
- Scenic World
- The Long Island Sound
- Carousels
- Transatantique
- O Leãozinho
Side B – The Misfits
- Autumn Tall Tales
- Fyodor Dormant
- Poisoning Claude
- Bercy
- Your Sails
- Irrlichter
Side C – New Directions and Early Works
- Sicily
- Now I’m Gone
- Napoleon On The Bellerophon
- Interior of a Dutch House
- Fountains and Tramways
- Hot Air Balloon
Side D – The B-Sides
- Fisher Island Sound
- So Slowly
- Die Treue zum Ursprung
- The Crossing
- Zagora
- Le Phare Du Cap Bon
- Babylon
