In the video for “Vagabond,” a song from Beirut’s 2011 album The Rip Tide, a group of strangers, many of them military-affiliated, gathers in a ballroom to dance mechanically and drink excessively, and we see a bunch of mostly-incomprehensible little stories taking place. Sunset Television directs, and the black-and-white imagery is as deeply pretty as the stories are weird. Watch it at YouTube.

The Rip Tide is out now on Pompeii. See also the great “Santa Fe” video.