As said on our Label Scan, it's now time to some serious things for Compost Records, with the release of Beanfield's third album, opening a new path to soulful electronica. Original group founder, Jan Krause offers us a free ride…



"We simply didn't want to follow a certain music trend, as we consider that as something too seasonal. We basically wanted to produce club music in a more timeless understanding and we actually consider that these are the songs that'll be eventually remained…"

So, here we go for a new chapter and obviously a new approach. How do you see your evolution since day 1 ?
Guess we've gone through a personal as well as a musical evolution…
While the first album (Beanfield) was mainly electronic, if not to say electro. Human Patterns, our second LP, had more of an organic vibe. A lot of real instruments were used and the beat programming had nearly a live feeling. With " The Season", Beanfield came up for the first time with a real song. This was a turning point and already indicated Beanfield's further direction on the singing territory. This idea is the basic mark on our new album as it features a lot of songs or at least song structured tracks.

Is this evolution in conformity to your will or also the result of the successive changes of your line-ups from an album to another ?
Think it's both. A new member generally brings a different vibe into the group as he delivers his own personal ideas. Even if Beanfield has gone through some musical changes, I think you can still recognize it as the Beanfield sound. But the music direction ,putting the focus on songs, was definetely our will. We simply didn't want to follow a certain music trend, as we consider that as something too seasonal. We basically wanted to produce club music in a more timeless understanding and we actually consider that these are the songs that'll be eventually remained.

So what's the difference, as Michael (Reinboth) has put himself in the status of a ghost member of the group ?
Okay, it's true that Michael and I have originally founded Beanfield together while producing the first two songs, but that's about it. Michael was too busy to have further commitment as his work as head of Compost Records is a 24/7 job. This leaving my former partner, Tobias Meggle at the time, and myself exclusively producing the second album. Meanwhile, this new on is produced by Michael Mettke and myself as we're now the constant Beanfield's line-up.

On which kind of niche do you see yourselves ?
We don't see our music belonging to a certain genre coz' we combine many different flavours, from the club scene like house, to downbeat, techno, broken beat... The only thing that the tracks have in common being the fact that they all got a lot of soul.

I would be tempted to talk about some phuturistic kind of soul as opposed to the so called nu soul, or should I say electro soul ? New conception of soul ?
Even if we're not completely satisfied with these terms they are definetely better than nu jazz which to us is something that confuses people. Electro soul isn't that bad, not to say soulful electronica…

"Analog kissing the digital" as said on your press release...
That's true. It was somehow a natural development Most of the songs were written on classic instruments like acoustic guitar or piano. We sometimes kept the songs in their classic shape and then supported them with different techy styles.

Seems like a growing part of the current production tends to explore sort of contemplative/hedonistic territories. A reaction facing the cruelty of today's headlines ?
Maybe. But I think there are also lots of political content in some of the latest production. To me, art has generally to be aware of political changes and the signs of the time. Music has always been one of the best ways to express that and, on the other hand, a good way to escape from reality, should it be for a single moment.
Our music depicts more this kind of feelings. I mean love even though I know it may sound cheesy…

What do you Seek then ?
We seek our personal understanding of club music within the scene without following a certain trend, but searching for a timeless level. You could also say Seek and find. In other words, refering to our personal demands, we've found.

BEANFIELD Seek LP (Compost)
(more info : compost-records.com)