BEIRUT – Gallipoli – LP – 4AD0121LP

Currently based in the indie-rock outpost of Berlin (Bob Mould is another resident expat), the LP was recorded partly there, partly in the Apulia region of Southern Italy, and partly in Condon’s old stomping ground of New York. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gallipoli is about dislocation. “Varieties of Exile” seems to include acute existentialism in its list, whereas the dreamy instrumental “Corfu,” named for the Greek island, vaguely echoes Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness.” That segues into “Landslide,” not a Fleetwood Mac cover but a lament involving a natural disaster “back home” — a metaphor, perhaps? — with more Moog, here recalling the ‘70s work of Brian Eno, who has also made memorable music in Berlin (see David Bowie’s Low and Heroes). “Family Curse” echoes ’70s Eno as well, specifically the chintzy syndrums on “Sombre Reptiles,” then blossoms into an ecstasy of minimalist horn patterns.

Olga Baczynska / Rolling Stone