Toast Rack

First Word Records is proud to present 'Toast Rack' - the new single from Werkha as he announces his third full length album 'Unsung Irregular' (out 10th October).

This is the third track taken to be taken from the project, following on from recent singles 'S-Bend' and 'Everyday (feat. Ríoghnach Connolly)' which saw support from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Nemone, Don Letts and Zakia (BBC 6 Music), BBC Manchester, Worldwide FM and Rinse FM.

The track takes its name from the iconic 'Toast Rack' building in Manchester, synonymous with the areas of Fallowfield and Rusholme where Werkha is originally from and still lives close to today.

"Toast Rack came about as a result of a request from long-time collaborator Yandass Ndlovu. She was pulling together a performance of different dances and choreographers, and it was up to me to create a piece of music for one of them."

Developing the track after it had been used in this performance, Werkha returned to the production and began to weave it into the style of 'Unsung Irregular'. He drew on textures that can be found across the album including the silvery harmonic sounds of acoustic guitar, alongside familiar bounding key pars and off kilter percussion. The resulting sound is a moment of joy, designed to make people move.

"When I listen to or play this song, I am taken back to the various occasions that my music has been used for creating movement. For choreography. For dance.

I am connecting my music to the joy of movement. The joy of collaboration. The joy of connecting with others over something familiar… This has been at the core of my music as Werkha since I began."

Werkha (aka Tom Leah) is a multi-instrumentalist born in Rusholme, Manchester. His releases on First Word ('The Rigour' EP from 2020, and the 'All Werk Is Play' LP from 2022) have seen support from a wide range of tastemakers such as Jamz Supernova, Scratcha DVA, Mo Ayoub and Julie Adenuga.

Alongside his own releases, he's collaborated and remixed with Quantic, A Certain Ratio, Marcos Valle, Eska, Chunky, Andrew Ashong and extensively with Keisha Thompson and Bryony Jarman-Pinto, to cite a few.

He's played full band and solo across the UK and Europe, touring with the likes of Bonobo, Chet Faker, Rebecca Vasmant and Mr Scruff, and performing with Crazy P, GoGo Penguin, Todd Terje, Lefto and MCDE, gracing stages at legendary venues like The Roundhouse, The Jazz Café and Manchester Cathedral, and various festivals including Glastonbury, SXSW, We Out Here, A Love Supreme and Latitude.

Putting community at the centre of much of what he does, Werkha works for a mental health arts charity in Stockport, and collaborates with Reform Radio to curate opportunities for upcoming Mancunian artists. As Werkha says, "a commercial music entity doesn't exist without a grassroots industry to propagate it".

In recent years, he has been creating and building his side-project, Saturama - a live audio-visual experience aimed at reconnecting to our rainforests in the UK, which has received support from organisations like Earth Percent, Plantlife, Manchester Museum, RSPB Haweswater and Kendal Mountain Festival.

Werkha is a thoughtful, conscientious artist, whose approach to creating is innovative, unique, ever evolving and deeply groovy. We're very excited to present this new material to you over the coming months.

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'Toast Rack' is released on all DSPs, Thursday 3nd July 2025, alongside pre-orders for full-length album 'Unsung Irregular', out 10th October on vinyl and digital via First Word Records.