BEANS ON TOAST - SURVIVAL OF THE FRIENDLIEST
Survival of the Friendliest provides an upbeat and light-hearted antidote to a world that’s been pretty difficult to navigate recently.
Written early in 2021, Survival of the Friendliest is a direct reaction to the cold, dark British winter and comes at a time when silver linings sometimes feel few and far between, providing an upbeat and light-hearted antidote to a world that’s been pretty difficult to navigate recently.
From the opening line “If you are good to the world it will be good to you” the simple lyrics combined with raw and stripped back vocals add a sense of naivety to the optimism that threads its way through the first track, ‘A Beautiful Place’. Cheery strings and backing choral voices ensure that, from the off, this album is one that’s going to put a smile on your face and get your feet tapping.
Though Beans on Toast’s lyrics may not be considered particularly complex or poetic, bright and colourful pictures are painted for the listener, using broad strokes and bold primary colours, with imagery akin to an impressionist painting of stony beach and frothing waves.
As a long established protest singer, it wasn’t going to be long before a hint of politics would sneak in and though, perhaps, done more subtly than in previous records, the political messages start to come out in ‘Blow Volcano Blow’ which talks of the discomfort of living in a society, and under a government that keeps us in cages we may not even realise we’re trapped in - “It doesn’t matter how big that enclosure is, it’s still an enclosure” - whilst constantly searching for the joys in life – the music, the jokes, the friends – and making it your home.
No album is complete without a love song, and Survival of the Friendliest’s contribution comes in the form of ‘Let’s Get Married Again’, a song inspired by the influx of wedding bookings Beans got in the absence of summer festivals during lockdown. The charming song finds the songwriter wondering what it would be like to marry his wife for the second time. Reading like a school boy’s love letter (“I love you more than words can say, more than birds can sing/I love to the moon and back, I love you more than anything”) this would sound great on anyone’s wedding playlist, and should warm even the coldest of hearts.
The mood shifts slightly on the stand out track ‘Tree of the Year’ – a pared back, accordion led ballad that mourns the loss of a historic tree and the history and stories held within her branches. The song is a stark reminder of the things mankind loses in its bid to build and grow more and more.
A bright and upbeat album throughout, Survival of the Friendliest lacks the emotional depth that many look for in an album, and doesn’t take the listener on a very complex journey. Beans on Toast has a tried and tested formula that he sticks to through each song, and the album does exactly what he wants it to – celebrates life, and the future, with all the chaos it brings. That being said, it’s an enjoyable album that gets feet tapping and puts a smile on faces. If you’re a fan of protest music, this is definitely an album you should check out.
Jess Distill
★★★☆☆