The period between adolescence and adulthood rests on thin ice. It’s an awkward stage, burdened by nostalgia for simpler times and worries stemming from newfound responsibilities. Toro y Moi’s latest album, “What For?,” forms the soundtrack of quasi-adulthood immaculately as its hyper-relaxed sound embodies the age’s sensibilities.
Opening with the rumble of racecars followed by waves of psychedelic synthesizers, the album bumbles along infectious grooves underlying a subtly wistful yearning in Chaz Bundick’s voice. Like Bundick’s voice, the record’s content is innocuous as it brings to mind the candor of moments like losing touch with loved ones, carefree days and the thought of leaving home.
Album opener, “What You Want,” is dreamy. The song’s beat wavers with Bundick’s lyrics which beg the object of his affection to do as she pleases — nothing truly bothers him. It is a sweet, innocent sentiment, its indecisive nature reminiscent of the naivety found in first relationships.
“What For?” is Toro y Moi with a renewed mindset, clear and devoid of complacency while maintaining an apt focus on blending Bundick’s already fine-tuned genre of chillwave with enough experimentation to feel innovative.
“Call Mommy and Daddy cause the nest is empty / and so are you,” Bundick chides on “Empty Nesters” — a single which coalesces physical and mental emptiness with a sun-kissed beat. The song fades into a warm and summery piano-driven track, “Ratcliff,” which bemoans excessive simplicity as a method of concealing false intentions.
Bundick is undeniably caught up with youth. However, time progresses with “Half Dome” and “Run Baby Run,” as Bundick speaks about the mundaneness of adulthood, from a weekend routine with a significant other to sleeping in since weekdays are so busy. Maturity comes with bleakness and Bundick contrasts this theme by working overtime to embellish the later tracks with experimentation in terms of unusual song structure and shifting pitch.
“What For?” encompasses young adulthood brilliantly and perhaps embodies the dullness of the age a little too well with tracks that are exceedingly quiet. Toro y Moi’s latest offering is an excellent progression for an artist whose career pioneered and popularized the genre of chillwave.
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