The Rip Tide by Beirut

The Rip Tide, Beirut's third album, arrived on August 30, 2011, the latest dispatch from Zach Condon, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has been the project's one constant since he started it in Santa Fe in 2006. Regulars Nick Petree on drums, Paul Collins on bass and Ben Lanz on trombone are along for it, and the music still pulls from Balkan folk and far-flung corners of the map while landing close to indie rock: mournful brass, Condon's rich croon, melodies that sway like a slow waltz.

"Santa Fe", which shares its name with the city where Beirut began, is the bright, bouncing standout, and "A Candle's Fire" glows more softly. Reviews were mostly warm, and the album debuted at number 88 on the Billboard 200 before rising to 80 a month later; by 2015 it had sold 93,000 copies in the US.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.