Synopsis

Zach Condon performs "Elephant Gun" inside a dreamlike theatrical world filled with elaborately costumed dancers and carefully arranged group movement. The video shifts between close views of Condon and wider tableaux that resemble a faded carnival, parade, or stage revue. Its handmade visual style, expressive choreography, and eccentric costumes mirror the song's combination of melancholy, romance, and swelling brass. Rather than following a conventional narrative, the clip builds an atmosphere of nostalgic fantasy around Beirut's young frontman.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released on May 1, 2007, alongside Beirut's rise from a solo project led by Zach Condon to a full live band.

• It was Beirut's first official music video. Alma Har'el later made the band's "Postcards from Italy" video as well.

• The choreography was created by Paula Present, while Lauren Tafuri handled costume design. The production's choreography, costumes, and set design were treated as equally important parts of the video's identity.

• Har'el described the emotional balance of Condon's music as a meeting point between loneliness and melancholy on one side and the joy of being alive on the other. That contrast is reflected in the video's wistful expressions and exuberant group dancing.

• Condon's carefully styled mustache, period-inspired clothing, and reserved performance helped establish the Bohemian, old-world image that became closely associated with Beirut during this period.

• The song originally appeared on the 2007 EP *Lon Gisland* before also giving its name to the *Elephant Gun* EP.

• The video was selected among Pitchfork's notable music videos of 2007 and later placed at No. 30 on Paste's list of the best music videos of the 2000s.

• "Elephant Gun" gained an additional audience in Brazil after being used as the opening theme of the 2008 TV Globo miniseries *Capitu*, based on Machado de Assis' novel *Dom Casmurro*.