Beans On Toast – Survival of the Friendliest

Jay McAllister has cemented his annual Beans On Toast album as somewhat of a Christmas tradition for fans.  Like clockwork, McAllister releases his annual full length on December 1st, serving as the musical manifestation of his yearly experiences in ten or more tracks.  The tradition has been going strong for over a decade, and those that have tuned in from the start can trace the weathered folk artist’s emotional journey from pessimistic disenfranchised societal outcast to proud father and hopeful change advocate.  No where is that more clear than in the title of this latest album, Survival of the Friendliest.

Opening with “A Beautiful Place,” McAllister paints a rosy picture of compassion in today’s bleak world.  “If you’re good to the world it will be good to you; it’s so naive it may even be true,” sings McAllister within the first verse, offering the perspective that kindness is what you make of it – you can’t wait for others to be good to you unless you lead with a smile.  Like a warm beam of light penetrating the clouds on an overcast day, the upbeat acoustic strumming, violin-enhanced energy and buoyant breezy rhythm warms you the soul.  Other tracks like “Blow Volcano Blow” and “Not Everybody Thinks We’re Doomed” put a little skip in their step as they bounce and bound playfully. This contrasts with the man-and-his-guitar simplicity of songs like “Stone” and “Tree of the Year.”  Lines like “nothing’s gonna stand the test of time, not as far as we can tell,” ground his optimism is realism and a more reserved tempo.  Similar sentiment fuels the words, “sick of all the pessimism” in “Ready for Action,” promoting courage and change over complacency.

One particularly beautiful moment that effectively sums up McAllister’s optimism can be found in “Human.”  While the instrumentals have a feel-good vibe of their own, the lyrics usher in an appreciation for life’s fleeting, variable and unpredictable nature. “Maybe that’s what makes us human,” poses McAllister, gradually putting forth life’s unanswerable curiosities in lines like “the awe and wonder of it all” and “the fact that we’re so small,” all of which centre around grounding oneself in layers of self understanding.  At the heart of the matter McAllister seems to believe that society can only save itself with people looking inwards.  “Love Yourself” ends the album by encouraging listeners to “be kind to yourself, love yourself,” and” know yourself,” in a casually unfolding and tuneful reminder that we each deserve and owe ourselves a base level of self-respect.

Beans On Toast continues to evolve sonically and thematically year after year.  Survival of the Friendliest reinforces McAllister’s present day balance of optimism vs realism, aiming to jumpstart the apathetic into reconsidering their perspective.  It’s also notable that he continues to take more instrumental risks with each passing album – hitting a new sweet spot track after track.  There’s nothing here fans wouldn’t expect, but there is a degree of stylistic fluidity that has grown with McAllister and made these last few albums very engaging.  Survival of the Friendliest keeps this momentum alive.