Toro Y Moi – 'Underneath The Pine' review
You’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve heard this record before. That’s not to say Toro Y Moi’s second LP is one of those replica sophomore albums (although the musical progression here is certainly more a subtle shift than drastic clang), but simply that much of its sleepily lustful, featherlite wash is so wonderfully evocative of a bygone era that it leaves you convinced it must be the product some misremembered past.
It’s not all hypnagogic haze though – New Beat is delicious disco straight from Chic’s playbook, and Still Sound’s organ stabs and understated drums perfectly underpin the Brian Wilson-esque melancholy of the vocal. But as a whole, Underneath The Pine is a faded polaroid of a record: ghostly and intriguing, sure, but without the accompanying detail or explanation to put it in context it’s also slightly insubstantial.
7/10
