Toro Y Moi at the Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, Feb 26 2013. Kirk Chantraine photo
Photos – Toro y Moi at the Bilmore Cabaret, Vancouver, Feb 26 2013
– photos by Kirk Chantraine
In support of the third Toro y Moi album Anything in Return, the Chaz Bundick-fronted band played the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver Tuesday night.
Reviewing the show in Exclaim!, Alan Ranta writes: “His [Bundick’s] voice was flat and tuneless unless in a falsetto, glinting with karaoke reverb, and he can’t conclude a melodic idea to save his life. Granted, his band was reasonably tight, but either they couldn’t jam or Bundick wouldn’t let them.
Every track ended on a hanging melody, on the last note of a phrase, which they often wouldn’t even give you the courtesy of holding. Particularly noticeable on tracks like ‘New Beat,’ ‘Go With You’ and ‘Studies,’ they just stopped playing, making it like the musical equivalent of writing in no-caps without punctuation.”
The press release is nicer. Of the new album, it says: “The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi’s third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established. There’s a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id… Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter’s return to producer-hood, Anything in Return is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist’s essence.”
Bundick was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. He spent his formative years playing in punk and indie-rock acts. While studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Bundick became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences to show up in his music. The blogosphere hailed  his early recordings as the sound of the summer. He released his debut album, Causers of This in early 2010.
He released his second album, Underneath the Pine, in 2011. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set followed.
More Toro Y Moi Vancouver photos:
