From the first 45 seconds of the new record Anything in Return, it is clear that Chaz Bundick (a.k.a. Toro y Moi) is prepared to make a serious statement.  How?  Because, honestly, anyone that bothers to have a lengthy intro to their first song, seeking full-album play in light of today’s stream-able/youtube-able music consumption patterns, is putting more thought into these things than “the average bear”.

Though the above-referred “Harm In Change” lays out some basic production standards for the record, it is really up to the second track “Say That” to set the tone for everything that follows.  For one, it isn’t often that a song straddles the line between Dungen with the thin/loose/static-y piano sounds of “Vara Snabb” and a super-sampled vocal akin to early 90’s club or R&B like Robin S’s “Show Me Love”, even with support of an era-friendly thumping bass.

Now while neither sound is totally outside of where the Freaking Out EP was headed, particularly with the stunning treatment of the Cherrelle number “Saturday Love”, the slightly-less static-y production of this record and the increase quantity of Chaz’s vocals (up in the mix with fewer effects than before) indicate more mainstream ambitions.

For further evidence see the orthodox structure of “Cake” with the hooky “She knows…” refrain bits and more subdued verses, showing Toro y Moi is completely capable of a straightforward pop song without sample-driven production gimmicks/writing shortcuts.  Unfortunately, the refrain’s “got my back and I know it” lyric might play well with the 18-and-under crowd, but is a little too throwaway.  Something slightly more loaded, or emphatic would definitely push this to stand-out status.

Not quite as ambitious is “High Living” with wonderfully warbly keyboards (very chillwave) and one of the more prominent hooks in “hiiiiiigh”.  Listening, it’s hard to understand why Chaz has been so preoccupied with burying his vocals or using samples to make more memorable lyrical statements when he’s plenty capable of singing the damn things himself.  Case in point:  with “Rose Quartz” the sampled-hook card gets way overplayed via “I feel weak”.  And that’s a strong hook! The basic vocal would have been more than enough to carry the day (with no annoyance factor).

With these little glimpses, you can see Toro feeling out deeper expressive/emotive territory.  In a more substantial, straightforward pop arrangement, a song like “Rose Quartz” could even get some radio play.  [Recently, with “Somebody I Used To Know”, we’ve seen that a well-written pop song by someone in the minor leagues can still break through.]

The final number, “How Its Wrong” ends things on a particularly strong note, but the keyboards are really what stick with you.  It’s striking how much the sound of this record pulls from late 80s/early 90s club pop such as Lisa Stansfield, TLC, Energique or even Swing Out Sister!  While this is partly due to the writing, it is also because pop music between 1987 and 1993 shared a bank of digital synthesizer and drum pad presets whose sounds are often lovingly repackaged within this record.  Unfortunate this gets overlooked.

As a new Toro y Moi record, Anything in Return is a fine progression on previous efforts.  As the pop record Chaz perhaps intended it to be, this album falls short.  Too many vocal samples.  Too few hooks.  Mid-album “Touch”, “Cola” and “Studies” are moody late-night oriented numbers, but they’re too lulling for their own good and drag the otherwise stellar proceedings down.

To pull the pop-oriented material off next time, it will be necessary to really up the hooks quotient.  One way might be to bring in some other vocalists to the writing process.  Can you imagine, for example, if Chaz got the girls from Dirty Projectors to do some of their crazy-awesome Mariah Carey vocals?  Say, for example, if they came in with some multi-tracked goodness on “Never Matter” around 0:25?   Also, the arpeggiated keyboards in “So Many Details” (around 2:15) show potential for more prog-ish exploration.  More rhythm-based heavily-sequenced keyboard layering, a silly guitar solo or two and faster tempos would really push things to the stratosphere next time around.

Happy to say that I enjoyed this record thoroughly, BUT, I hope (no doubt, against the tide of public opinion) that the next album is just a full-on, unapologetic pop masterpiece!  Chaz, dude, you’re capable of it.

-MYH

[AND- what the hell is up with that midd-y knocking sound in the left channel of “Cake” at 2:10?  I’m always thinking someone is at the door…]