Album Review: Toro Y Moi - Anything In Return

If this is what all music will be like in 2013, then we are in for one hell of a year. Toro Y Moi's Anything In Return is suave, sophisticated and oh, so smooth; a gorgeous way to slide into the new year. It drifts from song to song with a chilled atmospheric vibe that never gets stale. If you've never been privy to the Toro Y Moi sound (like, admittedly, your humble reviewer) before now, it will only take five minutes to make you sit up straight, and get to your local record store/online marketplace for the back catalogue.

Bursting onto the scene in 2009, Chazwick Bundick – better known these days as Toro Y Moi (but seriously, what an awesome name to begin with!) – and his brand of lo-fi, chillwave music have already put themselves on the aural map. Alongside contemporaries like Washed Out and Neon Indian, Toro Y Moi has crossed the first peak of the American chillwave scene, and landed with Anything In Return in 2013. The album treads a line between ethereal, background soundtracks and heartfelt singer-songwriter numbers, combining the two into a wholly entertaining and vividly imaginative record.

In keeping with the nature of the genre, Anything In Return doesn't really produce any standout moments, and to listen to one track alone would not do it justice. Anything In Return is more a whole work of art rather than 13 individual tracks, so please, dear listener, do yourself a favour and set aside the 52 minutes it'll take you to enjoy the whole thing. And remember, just because it's the first album of 2013, doesn't mean it can't be one of the best.