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‘Human Nature’ Vegetarians & Carnivores’ second album launches on all streaming places October 9th 2026.
Indie music project Vegetarians & Carnivores announce a new album release, along with launch single ‘Crossing The Road’.
Featuring ten musically diverse but themed tracks about Homo Sapiens, our world, and the planet, ‘Human Nature’, will be available on Bandcamp September 25th and October 9th on all major streaming platforms, YouTube and Amazon. Further singles will be released throughout autumn 2026.
‘Human Nature’ follows 2021 debut album ‘A Day of Rainbows’, 2024 single ‘Explorer’ and 2025’s ‘King Den’. It was mastered by Tim Turan at Turan Audio. Cover art by James Kontargyris.
Vegetarians & Carnivores is a solo project by songwriter and vocalist/guitarist Simon Carbery. Simon is also a member of acclaimed London-based band The Wood Demons. The band has released three albums and played Glastonbury 2023.
About ‘Human Nature’
Simon comments: “In a music world of one-off tracks, ‘Human Nature’ is an album for a reason. Thematically linked, it’s about us – human beings – and our relationship with political leaders, technology, our planet … and each other.
Flashback to 2016. Donald Trump had been elected for the first time. Brexit had just happened. And in the years since, we’ve seen the gap between rich and poor get wider and wider; grifting and power-grabbing become a political staple across the world; democracy being threatened even in the world’s stablest countries; the climate going haywire; AI threatening human creativity, jobs, and … humans.
The music on ‘Human Nature’ is partly about how humans rose to the top of the food chain through our ability to make tools. And how that same superpower is potentially our kryptonite. Because our tools – and aspects of ‘human nature’ - have created technologies that threaten our very existence: catastrophic weapons; global climate instability; AI.
“‘Human Nature’ is about us – human beings – and our relationship with political leaders, technology, our planet … and each other. ”
Every track on the album is linked by these themes. Sure, these are warnings. In spite of that, I hope ‘Human Nature’ leaves a positive message. That alongside humanity’s capacity for greed, short-sightedness and stupidity, we’re also blessed with intelligence, kindness and understanding. With an ability to communicate and collaborate. That we can, if we choose, use the best aspects of our ‘human nature’. And show - perhaps not before time - that we really do justify the description Homo Sapiens. “
This album was made by humans
Simon comments: “I’m indebted to the wonderful musicians who helped me on the album. They include Ben Middleton, and Clive Deamer (Portishead, Radiohead) on drums and percussion; Mark Gatland and Jerry Soffe on bass, Craig Crofton and Gary Alesbrook (Kasabian) on horns; vocalists Lisa Fitzgibbon, Lily Dior, Kelly Michaeli and Kas Kasongo; Laura Moody and Kotono Sato, strings; Baka Beyond’s Martin Cradick, classical guitar; Simon Mayor (Mandiloquents), mandolin. And above all, co-producer and collaborator Nick Moorbath on keyboards, piano, synth, midi and sound engineering. Without whom …”
‘Beautiful Tuesday’: A psychedelic Indian/Celtic/Zen stew?
“This sun is coming out …”
The longest number on our ‘A Day of Rainbows’ album, ‘BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY describes a magic moment when the clouds lifted and the sun burst through across a Scottish headland.
Influenced by some of George Harrison’s songs in his post-Beatles period, the music was built around something common to both Indian and Celtic music – a drone, created with a sitar-like guitar tuning, the Indian shruti, and lush backing vocals by Lisa Fitzgibbon and Lily Dior. And some impressive bodhran-esque toms-walloping from The Wood Demons’ Ed Kontargyris.
In the middle eight, Ukrainian Anatoliy Vyechaslavov adds tenor sax, and Colman Connolly’s uillean pipes underline the Celtic flavour. (At the end of the third verse I wanted a long, held note and surprised myself by singing the final phrase for 25 seconds!) Co-producer Nick Moorbath’s sonic flourishes include a reverse-strings intro and a pentatonic playout on a retro synth.
BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY is one of my most complicated productions, but I wanted it to be a happy and joyful celebration of a simple moment. Thanks to all these amazing collaborators for helping me make it fly.
Check out BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY here: https://vegetarianscarnivores.bandcamp.com/track/beautiful-tuesday
Right now we’re writing and recording a brand new set of songs launching throughout 2024/25 and with a 2026 album in the pipeline. Why not get in touch to find out more - we’re on all the links, top of the page. And meanwhile check out ‘A Day of Rainbows’ and other songs here on our website and at: https://linktr.ee/vegsandcars Thanks for reading. And listening!
Creating the most epic song on our ‘A Day of Rainbows’ album
It all begins with an idea.
“Well ... what a year that was ...”
The key song on our album ‘A Day of Rainbows’ - and the first written - is WELL … It’s a simple song at the start - just acoustic and slide guitars, keyboards and vocals, with a great tenor sax solo from Mike Wilkins.
The second half is created around a B to F chord sequence (the so-called Devil’s Interval) that grows into a rollercoaster climax. I wanted this climax to express the tempestuousness that was going on in my life at the time, so we created a hyper-percussive arrangement designed to sound something like a crazy steam engine in a thunderstorm. Co-producer Nick Moorbath at Evolution Studios did a brilliant job realising this, using midi instruments layered around a conga track, a demonic sax improv joining before the runaway train finally crashes into the buffers. The gentle passage after the chaos is a mash-up of my wife’s voice, our dog splashing through a stream, and an Andalusian flamenco busker.
WELL … features just three human musicians and only a handful of ‘real’ instruments: two guitars, piano, Hammond organ, sax (and voice). But by the end there are over a hundred tracks of midi and effects delivering the powerful emotional journey I was aiming for.
WELL … is one of my most personal songs, and still one that I’m most proud of. Check out the full length video here.
Right now we’re writing and recording a brand new set of songs launching throughout 2024. Why not get in touch to find out more - we’re on all the links, top of the page. And meanwhile check out ‘A Day of Rainbows’ and other songs here on our website and at: https://linktr.ee/vegsandcars Thanks for reading. And listening!