Album Review: Toy - Join The Dots

A year after the release of their critically acclaimed self-titled debut, Toy return with their second LP, Join The Dots. The long journey into psychedelic indie rock kicks off with the seven-minute instrumental track, Conductor, whose beautiful beginnings quickly morph into a somewhat eerie and industrial blend of psych-trance. This track has it all going on – suspenseful climactic points, hushed lows, fuzzy atmospheric ambience and loads of audio experimentation, all driven by the controlled beat and bassline. As we delve further into the record however, the tracks tend to blend into one another in frustrating banality – we know these guys have the potential to knock out some killer psyched-out moments, so why do they continue to load their albums with these bland and repetitive fillers?

Thankfully, the tone is switched up with the lively and funky bass contributions of the title track. The balance found here is brilliant; the complexity of the instrumentation is countered with simplistic, sing-song-styled vocals – it's almost sung like a children's nursery rhyme, binding all the elements together beautifully. Their ten-minute piece, Fall Out Of Love, closes proceedings, and lives up to its name by delivering a pleasing blend of melancholy, haze and longing. Join The Dots could have been great, however because most tracks possess the same vibe, intensity and tempo, with no breaths in between, it has the tendency become an overwhelming listen.