Anything in Return

Anything in Return

• Shrink-wrapped

Since his first offerings began making the Internet rounds in 2009, Toro Y Moi s Chaz Bundick has proven himself to be not just a prolific musician, but a diverse one as well, letting each successive release broaden the scope of his oeuvre. The funky psych-pop of 2011 s <i>Underneath the Pine</i> evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His <i>Freaking Out</i> EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer-songwriter spectrum in which he s worked since his debut, and his third full-length, <i>Anything In Return</i>, sees him poised directly in the middle of the two.<br><br><br>The product of a move to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, <i>Anything in Return</i> shows a pervasive sense of peace with Bundick s tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production, putting forth the impression of unmediated id. The producer s hand is prominent not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. Tracks like "High Living" and "Day One" show a considerably Californian influence, their languid funk redolent of a decidedly West Coast temperament, and elsewhere not least on lead single, "So Many Details" the record plays with darker atmospheres than we re used to hearing from Toro Y Moi. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter s return to producer-hood, <i>Anything in Return</i> is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist s essence.