Freaking Out
Album | Toro Y Moi
'80s dance pop gets the chillwave treatment.
If Underneath The Pine was a fine example of chillwave's dreamier side, this follow-up is aimed straight for the dance floor. It's just that the dance floor in question is in 1986 and everyone on it has just discovered Ecstasy for the first time. Taking most of their sonic cues from the frothier side of mid-'80s dance pop -- think "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz, not A Certain Ratio -- these five songs sound like a fantasia of Reagan-era Top 40 sent through a disorienting time warp that left the snappy Linn drums and pealing synths coated with layers of fuzz and distortion, like a cassette left baking on the back dashboard for a summer. What's impressive is that the resulting songs retain all their fizzy pop kicks, which is testament to Chaz Bundick's increasing talent as songwriter and producer: slap a Benetton sweater and a Swatch onto songs like "All Alone" and "I Can Get Love" and they'd be ready for the Solid Gold Dancers to writhe to them.
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