Still Sound – Toro Y Moi Still Sound – Toro y Moi (Free Download / Buy)

Looks like the joke is on us. Toro y Moi (@toroymoi) is now officially releasing his albums in reverse order. Nice try Bundick, but you haven’t fooled me. While this is actually not the case, when I was first listening through Underneath the Pine, this idea did strike me. As his second full length release, the songs and arrangements on this album really do show strides of growth and progression into what I think is the sound Bundick does best. At the same time, though, it felt like a step back in time.

All of us, whether we will admit it or not, rode the Chill wave at some point last year. Because that’s what Toro y Moi was initially pigeonholed as, Underneath the Pine may not be what most who followed Bundick’s work early on would expect (unless of course you were like me and pined after a more natural sound like what had come from his session with the geniuses over at Daytrotter). However, this fact really does nothing but endear him more to people like me who happen to love songs which forsake the “made on a Macbook” sound for a more visceral, Kentucky sour-mash of David Byrne b-sides and the Crystal Skulls.

Underneath the Pine, as an album, really breaks late unless you’ve listened to it a few times through already. In the usual fashion of what we all love about Bundick, the album has great dynamics between the songs, with a spectacular sing-a-long worthy ending in “Elise,” the final track. The song “Before I’m Done,” really stands out with its perfect economy of motion in melody and the arrangements of Rhodes and Mellotron-esque keys that, while present earlier in the album, really come together and make something in this song. “Got Blinded” and “How I know” follow this, picking up the pace and really shining in the bridges. “Still Sound” conjures up a great hook and image, at least in my mind, of The Talking Heads live – Stop Making Sense, while “Good Hold” screams Brian Eno without that feeling of him being ripped off.

The reason I enjoyed this record so much is that Underneath the Pine really holds together from beginning to end, hence my earlier comment about him releasing his albums in reverse order. I’m positive that if this were the first Toro y Moi a person had heard, it would most likely be their favorite. There’s simply a sense of honesty reeking from each of the songs, which is usually only contained in most bands’ earlier releases. Bundick is obviously foraging his own path with his music, and while Underneath the Pine is probably his best to date, it feels like it could have been better. I truly have no doubt this release will most likely be topped by future albums.