Album Review: Mahal // Toro y Moi

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Toro y Moi often describes his albums as a world for his songs to fit into. The artist’s seventh LP, Mahal, is a sunshine-soaked homage to pre-digital days – lost in the muzzy frequency of a west coast radio station.

Chaz Bear, better known as Toro y Moi, is a South-Carolina born artist of Filipino heritage. Bear’s prolific output, drowned in a boyish demeanour and an understated swagger, has charmed listeners for over 12 years.

In 2009, Toro y Moi was signed to Carpark records. Since then, he has released albums such as the acclaimed Outer Peace in 2019 and breakout success Causers of This in 2010. Mahal is the first album that Bear is set to release on a new record label, Dead Oceans.  

Mahal is as much a thematic throwback to the 70s as it is a sonic excursion. Bear’s 13-track endeavour into psychedelia may conjure alternate realities and otherworldly minutia, but it’s really just an open arm call to a world rid of a digital dynasty. That is the concept that saves this from being the ‘psychedelic album’ and rescues Toro y Moi from becoming a kitchen sink, ‘try it all’ artist.  

Vibrant opener, ‘The Medium’ (featuring Unknown Mortal Orchestra), starts with gear-revving ambience that slowly fades into a polychromatic soundboard. The track is tail ended by an explosive psychedelic rock jam.

‘Goes By So Fast’ is a genre-bending expression of Toro y Moi’s pop sensibilities. Flutter tongued flutes and woozy horns interact in a cacophony of sound. While Bear’s untreated vocals ooze intimacy.  

Mahal has been a five-year project, according to Bear. Writing started after the release of his fourth studio album, What For? – a similarly psychedelic outing. Meanwhile, the bulk of the album was recorded last year in Bear’s Oakland studio, where a host of musical friends joined the Grammy-nominated artist.   

‘Postman’, ‘The Loop’, and ‘De Ja Vu’ are sweet, sticky, effervescent tracks that display the Bay area-based artist’s songwriting flair. The plain sailing groove of ‘Postman’, combined with the cheeky refrain, “Mr Postman, did I get Mail? // Did I get a letter? // Did I get a postcard?,” make for a light-hearted commentary on the digital age.

On ‘Foreplay’, Bear has difficulty distinguishing between inoffensive and uncommanding. The track’s character is mainly derived from its skittish drums, modulated guitars, and electronic manipulations. Unfortunately, Bear’s performance is overshadowed and entirely forgettable.

There is an anxious burst of euphoria on ‘Clarity’ featuring Stones Throw resident Sofie Royer. The track could be found pleasantly sitting on the soundtrack of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Its claustrophobic soundscape descends into a bass groove that begs to overstay its welcome.  

Mahal is tied up with the complicated closer ‘Days in Love’. A goofy, kitsch splice of psychedelic-pop that irritates more than it should. There is a tongue-in-cheek and joyfully cartoon-ish song beneath the noise – it just wasn’t quite realised.

Despite its brief shortcomings, this album is a tonal paradise that weaves the esoteric stylings of Toro y Moi into a refreshed psych-rock experience. An eclectic and, at times, superbly stunning body of work by a veteran on board his beloved Jeepney.

Words by W.P Millar 


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