A stylish, eclectic success of an album from The Beatroot Road, Humanimal delivers a fearless, genre-defying journey that fuses global influences into a cohesive, emotionally resonant whole. From Latin, Irish, and African infusions to twangy rock, soulful vocals, and vibrant brass and strings, the album thrives on collaborative creativity and bold musical exploration.
Opening the album with a full display of the project’s various strengths — from approachable, hooky melodic allure to artful structural and tonal infusions — its title track dazzles across briskly poetic vocals, riveting brass crawls, and soaring strings. Another standout comes next in “Underground Roots,” combining twangy rock intrigue with a fusing of Latin, Irish and African elements. Kenyan singer-songwriter Lucinia Karrey features on the track, enthralling with vibrant vocals — representing one of many successful collaborations on Humanimal. Read out interview with the project, about “Underground Roots” specifically, here.
Featuring Katie Burke, “Morbid Love” moves with delightfully infectious charm — pairing soulful vocal charisma with a dynamic rock expanse, traversing from initial Prefab Sprout-esque bass hops and jangles into country-flair strings; the energy on the production is palpable, with a definitively cool vocal feeling. The previously featured “Laugh in the West” enamors as well, particularly in Ian Putz’s tenor sax, while album finale “Payday” achieves a hazy, bouncing alt-pop energy in its “all the miles we’ve come” vocal perseverance and title-referencing culmination. Humanimal is a fantastic, diverse success from The Beatroot Road — stirring across an array of melodic productions and memorable collaborative talents.
—
“Humanimal” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
