EP: “Alexa” by Beans on Toast

When you think of Beans on Toast you think of the festival regular who plays the MDMA song which I’m sure for Beans is part blessing, part curse; Beans life has moved on, he’s a parent who now abstains from drugs and quite frankly is getting older. It is with this in mind that I imagine Beans decided to play on two of his many strengths for new single “Alexa”: keep things topical and relevant and keep things humorous. Within seconds of Alexa he’s stuck successfully to this comedy mantra with the intro literally being “Alexa, play Beans on Toast. Alexa, play Beans on Toast” in an attempt to confuse Amazon Echo products. Beans starts the actual song with mellow one chord per line intro with lyrics “Alexa can you hear me, stupid question of course you are you’re recording everything” setting the scene for this lightweight political track. Shortly afterwards this turns into the lesser heard bouncing Beans on Toast full band with drums and bass added to the instrumentation. Again this shows further progression but keeping within Beans ethos of DIY with a raw production sound to the drums.

Let’s face it Beans you’re never going to change the face of music, this is another folk-pop ditty which without careful examination is a simple chord progression but with thought-provoking lyrics you are a cog in the left wing system trying to change the world. Light-heartedly throwing in lyrics “Alexa have you got a hidden agenda”, “Alexa have you considered your military capabilities” and “now we’re bugging our house in the name of convenience” may make some people think on their decisions. I commend Beans for his brilliant animation music video predominantly using cut up Amazon packaging and marker pen keeping the listener watching and not just absent-mindedly listening. Beans you’ve managed to keep reinventing the “Beans on Toast wheel” enough to keep listeners interested but not too much to alienate old fans. With single “Alexa” and 1 year old daughter dedicated single ‘Another Year’ already released from the new album on release date December 1st I’m sure we’ll all be shouting at our Echo’s “Alexa play Beans on Toast new album A Bird in the Hand”.