Toy is an epic, psychedelic, droning, wonder. Every track takes the germ of an idea and then repeats it at you with ever deepening insistence and almost imperceptibly subtle evolutions.
It's one of those rare albums that make you want to check out the band's influences in much the same way that Primary Colours probably did for Toy.
What we have in Toy is a beautifully powerful ramble of an album with at least six tourist attractions and beauty spots of songs to gawp at along the way.
They’ve channelled their trippy retro leanings through more recent history – Ride and House Of Love get a workout on ‘Motoring’ and ‘The Reasons Why’ is pretty much a love letter to My Bloody Valentine, but ‘Drifting Deeper’ shows off their interest in experimental electronics.
Wisely sacking the spud-like indie of Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong for a sound that’s equal parts neopaisley swirl and stately motorik sweep, TOY’s debut offers a lesson in the art of, erm, un-selling out.
It’s weird and wonderful and you’ll want to listen again as soon as it’s over.
What their self-titled debut lacks in innovation, it makes up for in spirit, its 12 barn-burning tracks accurately capturing a sense of youthful zeitgeist.
TOY are a worthy addition to the canon of “head music” that includes Can, Jesus & Mary Chain, Portishead and Spiritualized, and there’s plenty here to suggest they’ll go on to scale greater heights.
Perhaps more of an homage than an invention, then, but still, an absorbing debut.
When the album’s over, it is just that; dead and gone, leaving not a great deal to cling on to. We expected so much more.
I did expect just some generic indie rock. Oh damn, I was so wrong. This is just so ear pleasing, I love how they write lyrics that just sound so good when they are sang with his amazing moody voice. The instrumentation fits his voice just so damn well, even though I would really just appreciate more variety in it, I would be so happy if there were more songs like the second half of "Kopter". I just like the more chaotic sound of shoegaze than the moody and sad one. This is also one ... read more
1 | Colours Running Out 3:54 | |
2 | The Reasons Why 3:55 | |
3 | Dead & Gone 7:40 | |
4 | Lose My Way 4:26 | |
5 | Drifting Deeper 4:55 | |
6 | Motoring 4:34 | |
7 | Heart Skips A Beat 4:24 | |
8 | Strange 4:54 | |
9 | Make It Mine 3:54 | |
10 | Omni 1:28 | |
11 | Walk Up To Me 4:07 | |
12 | Kopter 9:51 |
#3 | / | Rough Trade |
#9 | / | DIY |
#11 | / | Piccadilly Records |
#16 | / | musicOMH |
#17 | / | Gigwise |
#19 | / | NME |
#19 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#25 | / | Time Out London |
#28 | / | The Fly |
#43 | / | The Quietus |