Time to Pop

“Let’s try to make another hit for the teens.” That’s the message Chaz Bundick (under stage name Toro y Moi) leaves us with in his newest single “Empty Nesters.” To make a hit for those teens, you’re going to have to make it angsty, and that’s just what Toro did with lyrics like “Do you still draw in the margins? Bubble letters reading ‘What for?’ And ‘I wish I had a stand-in…’” Don’t get me wrong though, we’re not talking American Idiot levels of angst, or anywhere close. This song is awesome for everybody, not just the teens.

The tune kicks off with a catchy guitar riff, funky & full bass, and some organic drums rather uncharacteristic of Toro’s earlier work. He started squarely within the chillwave spectrum, but this song really breaks out of that box. The listener is treated to some 60s-style harmony in the vocals, and they go down the ear canal real smooth-like. Toro teases us with a taste of a funk jam coming later (we call that foreshadowing in the biz), and all along this funk/pop/rock rollercoaster, psychedelic synths swirl beneath the surface like some type of cotton candy cloud formation of sound. It’s nice.

There’s not really any sort of precedent for this tune within Toro y Moi’s discography, and this blogger loves that type of experimentation.  Toro y Moi’s full album, What For?  will be out April 7.