Mahal

by Toro y Moi

Overview

Stuck at home in California during the COVID pandemic, Chaz Bear turned his attention to finishing up an album he had started years earlier. A more psychedelic outing with a focus on gnarly guitars and all flavors of funk, 2022's MAHAL feels like a logical follow-up to 2015's What For?, the first Toro y Moi album to lean hard into uptempo, guitar-led indie rock. Casting aside the slick pop sound of the previous two albums, this time Bear and friends turn the amps up and let rip on a collection of tracks that feel a long way from the dream-like sound Bear first cut his teeth on. Opening track "The Medium" sets the tone, with heavy-as-bricks guitar work provided by Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson fighting a rock-solid funk backbeat to a draw. It's like Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone got together to whip up a perfect instrumental, and it's a quick slap to the head for anyone thinking this was going to be something slick and easy to swallow. The rest of the record continues to defy expectations, explore psychedelic byways, and deliver goosebumps, even as it hews a little closer to the chillwave template on tracks like the watery, slinky groover "Magazine," which features a half-awake vocal assist from Salami Rose Joe Louis. Even that track explodes into some amp-shredding guitar wrestling at the end, something that happens at many other stops along the way. Bear noodles majestically like he was searching for the ghost of Carlos Santana on the laid-back funk jam "The Loop," sets the effects free to oscillate wildly on the billowing ballad "Clarity," blasts off into the cosmos like Prince on a good day ("Days in Love"), and lets guests Dylan Lee and Hannah Van Loon unleash some wild, backwards soloing on "Deja Vu" and "Way Too Hot" respectively. All the guitar overload lends a grittier, more immediate feel to much of the record, blending with the relaxed grooves and Bear's somnolent vocals to create a sound that's both bracing and calming. Not surprising considering the opposing poles of anxiety and solitude brought on by being isolated, a theme that pops up in many of the song's lyrics. After a couple of records where it felt like the machines and radio waves were taking over a bit too much, it's refreshing to have Bear invest the songs with some added excitement and imagination. Even the tracks that shy away from heavy six-string action, like the rollicking "Postman" or the cocktail jazz in space "Last Year," show the effects of the time and care spent crafting the arrangements. It might scare off some of the fans drawn to the pop side of Toro, but for those who appreciate the subtle twists and turns of his early work -- and especially those who wish he had expanded on What For? -- this is Bear and band at their most exciting, most inventive, and most fun. ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	04/29/2022
Label:	Dead Oceans
UPC:	0656605160115
Rank:	25789

Tracks

1. The Medium
2. Goes By So Fast
3. Magazine
4. Postman
5. The Loop
6. Last Year
7. Mississippi
8. Clarity
9. Foreplay
10. D¿¿j¿¿ Vu
11. Way Too Hot
12. Millennium
13. Days in Love

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Toro y Moi   Primary Artist
Martin Perna   Flute,Saxophone
The Mattson 2   Featured Artist
Jared Mattson   Guitar
Jonathan Mattson   Drums
Alan Palomo   Synthesizer
Ruban Nielson   Guitar
Doug Stuart   Bass,Keyboards
Shaun Lowecki   Drums
Andy Woodward   Drums
Anthony Ferraro   Drums
Salami Rose Joe Louis   Featured Artist
Matt Schory   Drums
Lindsay Olsen   Vocals,Keyboards
Hannah Van Loon   Guitar
Chaz Bear   Bass,Drums,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Synthesizer
Cheflee   Drums
Dylan Lee   Guitar
Sofie Royer   Vocals
Sofie   Featured Artist
Lucky Banks   Drums

Technical Credits

Greg Calbi   Mastering
Steve Fallone   Mastering
Chris Maggio   Photography
Chaz Bear   Art Direction
Harry Israelson   Art Direction
Pat Jones   Mixing
Fisk   Graphic Design