The Beatroot Road continue their mission of fearless artistic creativity, which unites artists from around the globe spanning nearly every subgenre, while somehow tying it into a singular, powerful theme on the expansive new album “Humanimal”. Released on October 25th, this release is connecting, meaningful, visceral and exciting. This is truly a genre-defying journey, reminiscent in ways of other bold artists like Massive Attack, Gorillaz, Bjork, Ian Dury & The Blockheads and Horace X create with a lack of fear.
The Big Takeover Magazine describes this collaborative project as “A genre-defying journey that’s as emotionally grounded as it is sonically ambitious. For a project conceived in isolation, The Beatroot Road has emerged as a global collaboration rooted in human connection.”
From the band: “Humanimal” is a collection of 10 heartfelt songs, each taking a sideways look at a different part of being human. Seems like enough people are arguing about who is wrong and why just now, so this album is a time out that doesn’t take sides – trying to find some sympathy for everyone who feels joy and pain, in songs about human experiences. It’s an international internet collaboration of “post-genre” music, with artists from Austria, Jamaica, Canada, China, Kenya, Korea, Jamaica, Moldova, Nigeria, Punjabi, Türkiye, UK, USA, and Venezuela.
This isn’t ‘world’ music featuring specific cultural traditions though – we’re from a world where most people have grown up with influences from lots of different cultures – it’s for those of us that don’t comfortably fit behind any of the current social media fuelled polarizing picket lines.
The tracks themselves are experimental in mismatching instruments and genres, and each has levels to the music and lyrics, but all have accessible dance music at the heart if you don’t want to dig deeper than that. Although they’re all different, the works are held together with the same left-field rhythm section of bodhrán, rhythm fiddle, bass and organ.
All of this music is performed by humans on musical instruments and sung (without auto-tune) in 13 different countries, then edited and processed by Mark at Laboratory X Studio near North Vancouver in BC to make the finished work.
The title track “Humanimal” is a potential review that humans might get from an internet AI – all the things we can do that it will never be able to – good, bad and ugly. Seems there is room for improvement. The other songs take indirect views on different human conditions including love, hate, wisdom and culture, with the album ending on “Payday” – a track about the meaning of life. In the middle is a passionate plea to young, creative artists to fight harder against the rising homogenized slop to keep originality alive in music: ‘cos if you don’t there might be no one left for you to dance like this with’….”
In a world where we continue to be fooled by the advance AI while ignoring it’s hype and limitations, here emerges a deeply human work that emphasizes what we have done since the very beginning…telling stories and inspiring. Humanimal dances, fights, claws, motivates and peacefully bows to all to stand up for our creativity, beingness and the joy, pain and struggle of humanity.
Watch the new music video for “Dance Sinners Dance”.
Listen to the full album on Spotify.
More Info:
Artist Name: The Beatroot Road
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Release Title: Humanimal
Release Date: October 29th 2025
Label: (Independent)
Musician Names/Instruments:
Mark Russell: Bodhrán, Congas, Bongos, Cabassa, Timbalé, Keys, Bass guitar, Guitar
Hazel Fairbairn: Electric Fiddle, Violin, Viola
Producer Name(s): Mark Russell
Genre(s): World-Fusion Post-genre, Alternative,
Tracklist: Humanimal, Underground Roots, Arlington, Milte Hi Ankhen, Morbid Love, Confusion Inland, Sombre Reptiles, Dance Sinners Dance, Laugh in the West, Payday
Websites:
Official Website: www.thebeatrootroad.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBeatrootRoad/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.beatroot.road?lang=en ;
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/The_Beatroot_Road
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2igBGRo0CgkQaQmR6nrk9b
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-beatroot-road/1767267942 ;
Boomplay https://www.boomplay.com/artists/97726626 ;
Bandcamp: https://thebeatrootroad.bandcamp.com/
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thebeatrootroad
Artist Contact Email: info@thebeatrootroad.ca
Artist Biography:
Mark Russell
Spending most of his early years in Khartoum in the Sudan, Mark returned to the UK to finish growing up in a multicultural Scotland, where he learnt African, Caribbean and Celtic drum styles alongside Rock and Roll music and all of its offsprings. He had to lie about his age to get a job to buy his first drum set at 15, and since then his career has included a covers band residency at a brothel, European and North American tours with black light EDM fusion band ‘Horace X’, and playing Celtic dance music for UK royalty in a kilt.
Over the decades Mark’s personal musical high points include: opening for Lee Perry, (and Toots, and Culture), recording with Dennis Bovell, and Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, having a Balkan fusion EP nominated for a UK Mercury award, international touring in general, with the Canadian Festival circuit in particular.
A lifelong cultural nomad, Mark felt at home every time he toured Canada, and eventually moved with Hazel to the melting pot of Vancouver where so many others live comfortably within more than one culture.
Hazel Fairbairn
Hazel abandoned early classical violin training for Celtic fiddle, and went on to write the world’s first PhD on Irish pub music at Cambridge University. After studying with South Indian violin master Chandru, Hazel went on to play Romani & Cajun fiddle with Horace X, while also running a Ceilidh band.
Since moving to BC, she has been adding cutting edge audio effects to the constant exploration of the violin’s boundaries, and working with Mark to create the heavy rhythms, tunes and textures that glue The Beatroot Road together. Hazel is also experimenting with immersive audio recording, teaches music technology in Vancouver and creates soundscapes for films by award winning poet Kim Trainor.
The other collaborators and contributors are all seasoned international session musicians and artists with roots in Austria, Canada, China, Kenya, Korea, Moldova, Nigeria, Punjabi, Türkiye, UK, USA, Jamaica and Venezuela. …so far. They will all be introduced individually with each release.
We represent and celebrate some of the many cultural integrations that our part of Canada is travelling towards in the 21st century.