Toro Y Moi
Anything in Return
Reviewed by Dan Emmons
Toro Y Moi’s third album, Anything in Return, is a nostalgic and fascinating piece of work. With the label of chillwave and previous albums regarded as reaches to disco and dance, this record sounds like the kind of music you do drugs or make love to. With a little bit of research, new fans to Toro will see his genre labeled as bedroom music. His videos are obscure to say the least and his style is something that seems to vary from album to album. Although this is my first experience with Toro, Anything in Return is a groundbreaking album from the position of a music fan.
Toro is able to blend trance with poppy vocal leads that take the album from what some may call background music, to the forefront. I have always had a fascination and great respect for artists that are able to take a niche music market and blend it with something mainstream and I think this album does just that.
Anything in Return could be the album that crosses over into the very popular electronic or producer-driven albums of today. It combines some of the best aspects of the newly popular in the U.S. EDM genre as well as brings out some classic old school hip-hop sounding samples. The combination of funky drum loops, ambient piano and vocal samples makes for a very relaxed vibe to the whole record. There really is nothing to dislike on the album, in fact every new track I started to like more than the last.
Labeled by some as “bedroom music”, Anything in Return is an innovative and sexy transition into the mainstream. Honestly, this album does not even give you a chance to not be a fan. So the next time you are with your special someone, light some candles, dim the lights, and throw this record on. You will not be disappointed.
