Like many fellow chillwave artists, Chazwick Bundick is wise beyond his years. Already an elder member of the growing movement, his new record is crafted with an eye toward a more broad appeal. While the recently released Anything in Return will not be responsible for pop bangers primed for mass radio airplay, the Toro y Moi brand will continue to expand with this third full-length album.
His catchy hooks are still present and looping them is the best weapon in his arsenal. Repetition of the desired effect in each track keeps his slow-tempo disco grooves a level above the background overtures or elevator music the genre can churn out. To be clear, the melancholy masterpieces of Anything in Return are all lined up and ready to fall in succession like the good chillwave dominoes they are; just don’t expect to be able to push play and remain seated idly by for the duration. This is no study album. Confined to an office chair, knee jerks would jostle the desk and cause a calf strain. Swinging shoulders would lead typing fingers astray. Keeping it all under control would prove futile when the infectious choruses arrive.
The best example of such body twitch-inducing repetition is found on “Say That.” Stuck between the new Toro y Moi endeavors into pop-market love and the expected bedroom-produced chill tunage, “Say That” has the chorus that makes hitting replay easy and sitting still difficult. True to the fresh direction, even this has been affected by a love-struck sentimentality. As the lyrics plead that everything is “alright,” the bassline and looped female vocals snap you out of the sappy mood music the verses yearn to create. A subdued and uninterested tone to his lead vocals tries to tuck Bundick safely within the tube of the chillwave swell, yet frenzied backbeats and distorted voices bursting with emotion like those of “Say That” float Toro y Moi to the crest.