Toro y Moi - Outer Peace

Toro y Moi
Outer Peace
2019
Spotify

There are some people who bought in to what Toro y Moi was doing from the very beginning. From lo-fi indie to guitar driven disco Chaz Bundick has attempted it all. His last album Boo Boo however felt like a hollow shell of the rest of his albums. The beats sagged, the pacing stunk and for the most part it was the first time that it seemed like Toro y Moi had bought into it's own hype. This record however smashes those conceptions, and instead Toro y Moi find that balance between dance and lo fi that He was so good at in the past. The ting about Toro y Moi is the sound felt like a natural progression of hip hop, dance and indie music. He managed to merge the three together in a sound that pleased everyone from Hypebeasts to coffee nerds. On "New House" He folds in trap vocals to give you this Travis Scott vibe but then the song is clearly an indie track. He manages to take his genre bending style to new heights here in a really exuberant way. Sometimes indie music can feel disassociative, like the artists made something then stopped giving a shit about it immediately after, its really quite maddening. There is being cool and then there is being too cool, the later of which could not be a worse fucking look. Toro y Moi always precariously balanced on that line, but on Outer Peace He finally gives in and starts just having fun. Who knew that making exciting music would actually make people excited huh?

 At 30 minutes this record feels painfully short. Before you know it this warm glow that you have been experiencing suddenly evaporates. Outer Peace is a great title because this album shows what happens when you allow some lightness and peace to come into your music. Everything here feels smooth and unforced despite it being rather avante garde. He makes his pedigree known on "Laws of the Universe" saying that instead of Daft Punk James Murphy will be playing at his house, and He met him at Coachella. These little tongue in cheek moments give a lightness to the record and prevent it from becoming to thick with references that no one cares about. "Miss Me" with ABRA singing is this psychedelic wandering track that only Toro y Moi could pull off. Outer Peace is a real accomplishment for Toro y Moi and one of his most fun records to date. This is the album that was missing from his arsenal, but no more. Can't wait to hear this stuff live and see what else Toro y Moi has up his sleeve this year.

8.0 out of 10