Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

TORO Y MOI - CAUSERS OF THIS

(Carpark)

It’s difficult to escape the fact that a growing number of supremely confident solo musicians utilising software are emerging from the USA with the intention of blurring the boundaries of pop, funk, hiphop and whatever electronic genre they care to add to the mix. Without wanting to draw nationalistic musical borders, apart from the terrific fizz of last year’s Hudson Mohawke album, there is very little in the US and Europe that seems to have same levels of sun-drenched swagger that accompanies this, the assured debut of 23 year old South Carolingian Chaz Bundick (23, I know, it makes you sick!).

Like contemporaries such as Flying Lotus, an experienced ear can pick out much of the influences that Bundick draws upon, but whilst they aren’t particularly surprising, it’s the melodic pop touch that is so invigorating. All of the 11 tracks on this 33 minute album are spliced with gold, and the range of ideas is suitably impressive. Add an element of the psychedelic in taking inspiration from the melting pot vision of Animal Collective, and you have a genuinely surprising and thrilling release.

So what does it sound like? Well, for solo albums, there is naturally a reliance on electronic technology. If there’s a criticism, it is that the haphazard splicing of sounds to make things not seem so processed or automated does sometimes sound forced. For example, the end of opener “Blessa” suddenly cuts without warning to the next track. And at times it does sound unnaturally compressed, especially when the songs are jam-packed with great swathes of noise. Simple hip-hop rhythms provide a steady backdrop to a kaleidoscopic world of pop that sometimes threatens to spin out of control. The textures and cadences come thick and fast, from the narcotic and quite disorientating “Fax Shadow” to “Thanks Vision”, where sing-a-long choruses are built up, deconstructed and then re-assembled. Bundick’s voice has a warm character to it which helps to permeate proceedings; whilst of limited range, you can tell that his smile is as wide as the Grand Canyon all the way through.

All great pop albums have those moments of 3 or 4 songs that come together in sequence, and “Causers of This” is no different - the exception is that it’s difficult to mark out a weak track, but then again, on the other hand it’s even harder to mark out what is the best one. As a simple and effective way of being lost for 35 minutres  in a faintly psychedelic world of delightful, innocent modernist pop, I’ve not heard anything in a long time that makes its case so directly. Ignore at your peril!

Toby Frith