It is 10am in Munich where Beanfield’s Jan Krause and Michael Mettke sit in the Compost studio sounding relaxed and quite excited about the opportunity to discuss their latest creative instalment, ‘Seek’.

Beanfield’s enthusiasm comes as no surprise. Three years on from the last LP, ‘Human Patterns’, ‘Seek’ not only marks ‘Beanfield’s’ official return, but the first offering post-significant personality overhaul. i.e. the departure of Tobias Meglier, one half of Beanfield.

“After Beanfield became very successful Tobias felt that he was neglecting his own project. He thought he could not fulfil his musical demands anymore so he left the group, left the city and moved to the countryside”, explains Michael.

Instead of putting the Beanfield project out to pasture, original founder, Jan Krause, forged a collaborative partnership with newcomer, Michael Mettke, initiating the reinvention of Beanfield.

“we had to get to know each other and find the right synergy, and also in which musical direction Beanfield wanted to go with this personal change”, says Michael.

What evolved was a shift away from Beanfield’s signature club savvy, jazzy beats to a greater focus on songs. Michael Explains,

“We put a lot of melody and soul into it and that took a little time because we were not producing just functional tracks for clubs. We really wanted to do an album that is worth listening to at home as well as functional for a club”.

Overall, Jan sees the shift back to songs being a very natural process.

“Our opinion of songs and song structured tracks is (that it is) more timeless. There used to be a time when it (felt a lot of melodic combinations were over used) that is why electronic development was so developed, because you had to find new frontiers besides the melodic. I think the past years there have been so many functional electronica tracks, that maybe there is a shift back to traditional song arrangement again as it is considered more timeless. If you go back to your favourite music, most people have to admit that it is the songs that really inspire you or you keep with you for ages. A good song of today is still good in 20 years. Even if the production is not that fresh anymore or that trendy at the moment, you simply like the songs.”

Beanfield were determined to produce an album that closely reflected what they were about on a more intimate level. In terms of inspiration for the LP, “we were listening to ourselves…..we expressed our inner feelings and our personality”, says Michael.

Beanfield found the sampler was not a tool that could adequately translate such self-reflective material, as a result, most of the new LP was recorded live. Generally speaking, Michael hints that the sampler may actually be largely a tool of the past.

“We didn’t want to steal the music by others. We even were not inspired that much by other records… I think this idea of sampling another’s ideas is a little bit over now. I think if you want to be serious in this business or get respect from others, you simply have to work with your own ideas. It was really our purpose to do our music on our own (and) to play the instruments ourselves. “

This does not mean retiring the sampler completely. This IS electronic music in the age of the digital…

“We (still) used the sampler a lot of times but mostly we sampled ourselves… (and) rearranged it in order to get a more modern and maybe strange sound… ”, says Michael.

Beanfield’s next challenge was to find someone who was capable, vocally, of expressing the material on the introspective ‘Seek’ project. As Michael explains,

“It is the hardest thing if you produce records and are not able to sing yourself. The voice is so important; the listener is recognising and connecting to it. If you do not have a voice that fits 100 percent to your taste, it is impossible to use”.

International acclaim seems to go along way. Jan and Michael secured their first choice, Swedish-born vocalist Ernesto. Ernesto features on four tracks and has become an integral part of ‘Beanfield’s’ sound.

“He (was) really excited about it. He came to Munich and (we had a) really good time in the studio. He is a really, really great guy. He is now a really big part of this album because his voice is incredible”, says Michael.

So, what is keeping ‘Beanfield’ busy lately?

“We have started rehearsing for a tour here in Germany. After that, we will do some DJ gigs all around the world.”

It sounds like the best place to catch up with Beanfield is definitely Germany. Beanfield are warming up to tour their home country with a full band, including vocalist Ernesto.
In terms of stretching the tour to Australia’s shores…”maybe” and “hopefully” was all the confirmation given. In the meantime, Beanfield send “Greetings to Australia from MUNICH”! and, there is of course the new ‘Album to get excited about.

Beanfield’s new album ‘Seek’ is out now through Compost Records/Creative Vibes.