You know those albums where you have to just have to listen while reading the lyrics? That’s the deal with the long-running Beans on Toast, the nom de plume of London singer-songwriter Jay McAllister.
Beans on Toast’s latest studio album — the seventh overall — is nothing if not lyrical, a zany, idiosyncratic alt-folk sermon on life’s more awkward moments. It’s called Rolling Up The Hill and it was recorded earlier this year in Lawrence, Kansas with the husband-and-wife double bass/mandolin duo Truckstop Honeymoon. The album will take you from there to New Orleans to South Africa, to a chat on world religions. It’s premiering now on Billboard, ahead of its Dec. 1 release on Xtra Mile Recordings. Dig in:
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“Rolling Up The Hill is my seventh studio album and it’s a record about love, art, travel and bank robbery,” McAllister tells Billboard. “The album’s got songs about America, songs about Essex, songs about growing old, songs about songs and songs about love. It’s also got double bass and it’s a record I’m very proud of.”
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McAllister is fresh off a U.S. tour, opening for Frank Turner. Previously, he MC’d Mumford & Sons’ Gentlemen of the Road stopover shows and oversaw the North London venue Nambucca, where the likes of Turner, Marcus Mumford, and Laura Marling got their starts. In March 2016, he’ll be setting sail with Flogging Molly on their Salty Dog Cruise.
Rolling Up the Hill is available for pre-order here.