Pitchfork

Native New Mexican Brandon Bethancourt's nom de musique is Alaska in Winter, and that would be just another inscrutable band name if it weren't for the fact that Bethancourt actually began recording his debut album, Dance Party in the Balkans, in an Alaskan cabin one winter.

However, he returned to New Mexico to finish the record, and once back home, he recruited some noteworthy friends to help him out. Among them are Beirut's Zach Condon and A Hawk and a Hacksaw's Heather Trost. The former contributed vocals, trumpet, and ukulele to various Dance Party tracks, while the latter added violin.

Dance Party in the Balkans came out last year in the UK on Regular Beat Recording Co., but it made its U.S. debut this week via Milan Records. The U.S. release is a digipack featuring alternate mixes and bonus tracks not available on the original.

What's more, Regular Beat will press Dance Party's Condon-assisted "Close Your Eyes - We Are Blind" onto a UK split 7" due April 7. The B-side, "Trop Exprés", comes courtesy of Regular Beat labelmate Marianne Dissard and features Joey Burns of Calexico.

Bethancourt will launch an Alaska in Winter tour in April. Once that's wrapped, he'll hole up in Berlin to record his sophomore album.

Dance Party in the Balkans (U.S. edition):

01 The Homeless and the Hummingbirds [ft. Zach Condon]
02 Your Red Dress (Wedding Song at Cemetery) [ft. Zach Condon]
03 The Beautiful Burial Flowers We Will Never See [ft. Zach Condon]
04 Balkan Lowrider Anthem
05 Lovely Lovely Love
06 Twenty Four Hours in Lake of Ice
07 Dance Party in the Balkans
08 Harmonijak [ft. Zach Condon]
09 Staring at the Sun
10 Horsey Horse (Extended Remix - Quiet)
11 Rain on Every Weekend (Remix)
12 Don't Read Dostoyevsky
13 Close Your Eyes - We Are Blind [ft. Zach Condon]
14 A Love Note From Your Piano [bonus track]

Alaska in Winter:

04-06 Newcastle, England - Head of Steam
04-08 Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Club
04-09 Liverpool, England - View 2 Gallery
04-10 London, England - 93 Feet East
04-12 Birmingham, England - Flapper & Firkin
04-15 Brussels, Belgium - Le Botanique
04-16 Paris, France - La Flêche d'Or
04-19 Marseille, France - L'Intermediare
04-22 Hamburg, Germany - Astra Stube
04-24 Berlin, Germany - Duncker
06-06 Reykjavík, Iceland - Organ