| A Study of Losses | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 18, 2025 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Orchestral pop [2] | |||
| Length | 57:10 | |||
| Label | Pompeii | |||
| Beirut chronology | ||||
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| Singles from A Study of Losses | ||||
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A Study of Losses is the seventh studio album by American folk band Beirut, released on April 18, 2025, by Pompeii Records. [3] [4] Featuring eighteen songs including two singles, "Caspian Tiger" and "Guericke's Unicorn", the album received positive critical reception from multiple publications, including Uncut Magazine .
Recorded in Berlin, Germany and Stokmarknes, Norway, for Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, [3] A Study of Losses is based on a book titled Verzeichnis Einiger Verluste by German writer Judith Schalansky. [5]
Stylistically noted as encompassing "wide-ranging chamber folk", the album consists of eighteen songs including seven instrumentals ranging between two and four minutes each, excluding "Guericke's Unicorn", which surpasses four minutes. [6] It succeeds the band's 2023 album, Hadsel . [7] [8]
Beirut released the album's first single, "Caspian Tiger", on November 14, 2024. [3] [9] The second single, "Guericke's Unicorn", was released on February 13, 2025, alongside a music video. [2]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100 [10] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Hot Press | [11] |
| Pitchfork | 7.4/10 [12] |
| Uncut | [13] |
A Study of Losses received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79 based on eight reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [14]
The Line of Best Fit remarked, "A Study of Losses finds Condon writing about disappearance, preservation and the impermanence of everything known to us – extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures, the process of aging and other abstract concepts." [8] Hot Press rated the album eight out of ten and stated, "The synth-based 'Ghost Train' and 'Guericke's Unicorn', while impressive, sit a little uneasily alongside the album's more acoustic core. But overall, A Study of Losses is wilfully and wonderfully odd." [11]
AllMusic assigned it a rating of four stars and described it as "appropriately melancholy in nature" and "inspired by the tale of a man obsessed with archiving humankind's lost thoughts and creations". [6] Pitchfork gave it a rating of 7.4 out of ten, and referred to it as "an example of the peculiar magic that can happen under seemingly absurd circumstances." [12] The Times commented, "Zach Condon has created a tender, sombre work which glides by with ease." [15]
Uncut noted it as "a further example of his fluency in the ancient, internationally shared languages of wonder and imagining," rating the album eight out of ten, [13] while Mojo referred to it as "what might be his most beautiful record to date, particularly the instrumental numbers". [16]
All tracks are written by Zach Condon.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Disappearances and Losses" | 2:24 |
| 2. | "Forest Encyclopedia" | 3:49 |
| 3. | "Oceanus Procellarum" | 2:24 |
| 4. | "Villa Sacchetti" | 3:26 |
| 5. | "Mare Crisium" | 2:46 |
| 6. | "Garbo's Face" | 3:10 |
| 7. | "Mare Imbrium" | 2:11 |
| 8. | "Tuanaki Atoll" | 3:22 |
| 9. | "Mare Serenitatis" | 2:21 |
| 10. | "Guericke's Unicorn" | 4:24 |
| 11. | "Mare Humorum" | 2:38 |
| 12. | "Sappho's Poems" | 2:30 |
| 13. | "Ghost Train" | 3:41 |
| 14. | "Caspian Tiger" | 3:58 |
| 15. | "Mani's 7 Books" | 3:10 |
| 16. | "Moon Voyager" | 3:47 |
| 17. | "Mare Nectaris" | 3:42 |
| 18. | "Mare Tranquillitatis" | 3:27 |
| Total length: | 57:10 | |
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [1]
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [17] | 81 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [18] | 79 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19] | 97 |
| UK Album Downloads (OCC) [20] | 43 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) [21] | 18 |
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