TORO Y MOI - Boo Boo 2xLP

Label: Carpark

After releasing the poppiest, most guitar-oriented Toro y Moi album yet with 2013's What For?, the always musically restless Chaz Bundick changed directions again. After a side trip to record some prog jazz with the Mattson 2 on early 2017's Star Stuff album, some soul-searching, and a name change to Chaz Bear, Toro y Moi took a big detour from power pop back to something more rooted in the chillwave sound Bear helped make a thing.

Released in 2017, Boo Boo is a schizophrenic album that swings between almost formless R&B meanderings and peppy electro-funk, with Bear using space and distance on the former to create chilly atmospheres.

Boo Boo is a huge revelation for Toro Y Moi. With this, there are no bad songs and no ideas that aren't fleshed out. The album is sequenced to near perfection as every track here is essential. I was expecting another pretty solid album from Chaz, but instead I got something truly great. With a newfound confidence, let's just hope he can keep things up.