“Nantes” by Beirut

"Nantes" sits on The Flying Club Cup, the second Beirut album, which 4AD put out in October 2007, and it's more or less Zach Condon's one-man brass band in full flight. He wrote it and sings it, plays trumpet, euphonium, accordion, organ, piano and percussion on it, then helped Griffin Rodriguez mix it.

Condon was soaking up Jacques Brel and French chanson at the time, pop songs smothered in grand, theatrical arrangements, and "Nantes" wears that drama like a borrowed overcoat. Arcade Fire collaborator Owen Pallett adds violin, piano and harpsichord, Kristin Ferebee a second violin and Perrin Cloutier double bass, so Condon's mournful croon drifts over a creaky, candlelit swirl of strings and horns that sounds a century older than it is.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.