Beans on Toast is back with his 8th studio album, A Spanner In The Works (released 1 December 2016) and to celebrate he’s on the road, calling in at Manchester’s Gorilla on 26 November.
The album was recorded over a single weekend with long time collaborator and friend Scampi Dan, with the DIY ethos firmly at it’s centre, the album was recorded on a laptop and seeing Beans embracing technology, creating an album different to any he has recorded before. Whilst three chor folk is at its heart, songs are layered with loops, synths and samples.
“For this album I came up with the name first and had the urge to do something little different when recording it. The idea of doing it without guitars seemed like a suitable spanner. The sounds and rhythms you can make on a computer are absolutely endless and we had a lot of fun exploring that world, as it’s interesting to see how many twisting paths a song can go down after it’s been written. I’m super proud of this album, it’s a bit different but to me it’s still folk music and it sits well with all my other albums, past and future” he commented.
At the live shows the album will all be played on the usual guitar, banjo, harmonica set up, in the way they were originally written. As usual Beans doesn’t pull any punches, he says it as it is. Protest songs, heart on his sleeve love songs and social commentary that feels just like a conversation with your mates down the pub.
A Spanner In The Works also features a number of guest artists – house vocal diva Alex Mills on We Made It To The Waterfall; Tensheds’ Matt Millership jumps in on keys; most special all of all these guests perhaps though, is the appearance of Beans’ own Mum, Pauline, who takes to the mic to add her thoughts on the looming threat of climate change on ‘Fear Mongering Clap Trap’.
Beans on Toast performs at Gorilla on 26 November 2016.
