Daniel Johnston gets a jazz makeover

Daniel Johnston has announced a new greatest hits album, featuring reworked versions of his best-known songs. Released tomorrow (26 March), Beam Me Up was recorded with Dutch ensemble BEAM . Next week, Johnston will launch a European tour with BEAM, performing in London on 2 April. Whereas the weird and earnest troubadour has previously toured with rock bands – including a spell with the late Sparklehorse in 2008 – this is his first time working with an 11-piece jazz orchestra. Beam Me Up, to be issued by German label Hazelwood , offers a preview of this sound: Johnston's singular voice over skronks, strums and pretty strings. The album features nine Johnston favourites, including Devil Town, True Love Will Find You in the End and Beatles. There are also three new songs, Mask, Sarah Drove in Her Car, and Last Song, which is, er, the penultimate track. The album is streaming here . Johnston has previously released several compilations, and has been lionised on at least two tribute records. With a jazz orchestra now under his belt, his next project seems clear: a duets album with Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman .