Toro Y Moi – Anything in Return

The third LP from Chaz Bundick sees the producer’s lush, pop-oriented blend of house and hip-hop take a bold stride towards the mainstream, without sacrificing the distinctive qualities of Causers of This and Underneath the Pine. The South Carolinian has largely shaken off the chillwave tag – if it was ever of any use – in honing a sound that owes as much to the shuffling, disjointed beats of Flying Lotus as it does to radio-friendly soul and RnB.

Anything in Return is at its most immediately rewarding on songs like Studies, which meshes an addictively catchy harpsichord sample within a complex, cyclical bassline, overlaying the whole with woozy, psychedelic guitar samples and Bundick’s now-familiar silky vocal delivery. As he sees it, Return is an attempt to make “sincere pop music that’s not all processed and bubblegum.” By those lights, it’s an undeniable success – and further evidence of his impressive versatility.