Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine [Carpark]

8.0

Chillwave: one of the newest movements of indie music these days. Chazwick Bundick, known as Toro Y Moi, is one of the leading artists of this “chillwave movement” along with Washed Out, Neon Indian, and Memory Tapes. Chillwave has yet to have a “definitive” record that is looked upon as an instant classic and is referred to anyone who wants to scrap away at the surface of the ever growing chillwave scene. Is Toro Y Moi’s sophomore effort Underneath the Pine that record? No, but really it’s a very solid piece of work that Bundick creates to push the boundaries of chillwave.

Sounding old and reminiscent of ‘80s synth freak outs and having deeply layered mixes of ambient sounds and having a very strong bass present is what chillwave is about. Underneath the Pine is no different kicking off the LP with a hazy, heavily layered instrumental intro with breezy female vocals with layers and layers of shoegazy guitars. A much more advanced direction for Bundick looking back at his just under par debut Causers of This.

“New Beat” follows the intro with its funky bass line and myriad of synths all pounding different directions to a very consistent beat. Bundick sounds very Beach Boys-esque on the glorious wavy “How I Know” with the vocals harmonizing in a very “Beach Boys way”, which is easily one of those “wow” moments on with haunting lines of, “Take me when I die and I’m full of sleep/Underneath the pine on a bed of leaves.” In fact, Toro Y Moi could easily be what The Beach Boys would be playing in today’s day and age, but that assumption is a neither here or there.

Underneath the Pine has its very, very nice moments and then it’s boring dragging moments, and both can appear in the same song. “Light Black” grooves nicely and has cool instrumentation, but Bundick’s vocals are weaker than usual and “Light Black”. Most of the time, Bundick’s vocals are spot on and create a really unique and atmospheric mood to every song on Pine. One of the coolest studio works that Bundick does is on the brief track “Good Hold” with its immensely impressive stereo use with the fade-in fade-out style to create these really heavy pressures of sound on your ears.

The six minute finale “Elise” tops everything off that is Toro Y Moi. With varied instruments, dramatic qualities, and awesome studio work to be pleasing to the ear; it’s a perfect conclusion to the very solid Underneath the Pine. I see Pine as an important stepping stone to chillwave becoming a defining genre of new music. If Pine is your first chillwave record, good for you; it’s a great learning record for someone interested in the growing of chillwave.