Josh Owens

Released by Carpark Records this past January, Toro y Moi (also known as Chaz Bundick) boasts his 7th and latest 10-track release, Outer Peace. Nine years removed from his debut release Underneath the Pine back in 2010, Bundick has slowly shapeshifted from the early lo-fi chillwave sound to a more crisp, clean dancing groove. In doing so, Chaz has vastly improved both as a vocalist and lyricist.

Compared to his previous work, Chaz Bundick takes s a lot more mainstream elements heard in pop music today, such as autotune and sub bass, and tries to create something fresh in his attempt to get away from the cliché pop formula, with songs like Monte Carlo and Miss Me (feat ABRA). This can especially be heard in the albums final track, 50-50 featuring Instupendo, which only consists of a piano sample, sub bass and auto-tuned vocals. It’s one of the most deceptively simple tracks on Outer Peace, which also happens to be one of my favorites. Other favorite tracks such as Ordinary Pleasure and Who I Am are more characteristic of Toro y Moi’s previous work, but are still subject to the infectious pop influence evident throughout the track list. This is arguably just as satisfying in an album that incorporates tools old and new to build the swelling, groovy and pulsating sound that is Outer Peace.