Beirut has a new album, No No No, with a September 11th release date; until then, there's a single, "Gibraltar," with a video. Pitchfork sees this as an island of trash, and it is, partly, but there's more going on than that. The song is catchy, with more of a beat than some of Beirut's more melancholy tunes. But this video seems to point at what we so easily abandon. We walk away all the time: we move on, but we leave things behind. That loss accumulates, maybe on an island, maybe in our minds, and it turns into something gained. Certain things remain true, no matter our accumulation. The moon is beautiful--the way it makes everything blue. The tide comes in and out. Pigeons circle around what we toss. It doesn't take long before we pick up and move on again. I like this song a lot. There's so much gained in loss: there's so much truth in shedding.
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Honestly, when I wrote about Alabama Shakes' album Sound and Color, it made me think of City and Colour, but they don't have a new album out. I saw City and Colour with The Low Anthem a few years ago in Indianapolis. It seems a lifetime ago. But probably, they'll see this blog and release a new album so that we can celebrate that. Dallas Green (a city, and a color, get it?) has a gentle voice. Damien Rice, Alexi Murdoch, Samuel Beam, but with a little extra. A little more beat. A little more ache. Listen to "The Grand Optimist;" if that line after the beat drops, "I guess I take after my mother," doesn't haunt you, well: lucky you. Little Hell is a great album. This band has done more than you might know: I'm looking forward to hearing new work.