Chaz Bundick aka Toro y Moi is as chill as the music he makes. Labelled as “chillwave”, he has given us an abundance of amazing tunes since his debut album Causers of This in 2010. Since then, he has been blessing us with R&B, hip-hop, psychedelic rock and minimal influences in albums and EPs. With Toro y Moi’s sixth studio album titled Outer Peace released, we expect nothing less but greatness. It is a collection of uptempo tunes with sexy slow jams that still keep up with his brand of chillwave that we all know and love.

There is a sense of new sound he is experimenting with and just like the title Outer Peace, it is usually harder than inner peace. He gives us an adventure yet cool vibe throughout the album. He starts off the album with distorted synth and howling vocals over the drum machine on “Fading” to give us that summer sound that follows up with the latest single “Ordinary Pleasure” of a similar vibe with a dash of happy that comes with a very fun one-take music video.

He keeps the drum machine going on with “Laws of the Universe” that gave us that Daft Punk vibe before giving us the sensual “Miss Me” featuring ABRA that takes you to another space. “New House” followed suit with Chaz delivering auto-tune vocals with amazing melodies that feels almost futuristic as well. He gave us a dash of R&B on “Baby Drive It Down” before hitting us with the lead single “Freelance” gave us funky and house vibes over the very distinctive use of the synthesizer as he uses his voice like an instrument on this infectious tune.

This is followed up by “Who I Am” which seems like the most dance music Toro y Moi has ever released that is a funky synthpop tune with Chaz’s singing tuned in a higher pitch that will surely make you dance. Chaz closed the Outer Peace album by slowing down with “Monte Carlo” featuring Wet and “50-50” featuring Instupendo by taking on more R&B sound to wind things down.

Now that Chaz is married and gotten older, he had left the heartache to a more matured direction lyrically especially when he sang “Does sex even sell anymore? I feel like I’ve seen it all, or maybe I’m just old” on “Ordinary Pleasure”. Overall, Outer Space is a refreshing album for all occasions over his signature funky delivery over R&B and hip-hop influences that cannot be missed on this album. Toro y Moi did it again by motivating us on this album that life is hard and we must keep going anthems. We cannot wait to see what Chaz has up his sleeves next already!

Cover Image: Toroymoi.bandcamp.com

Kevin was the former editor of two music and lifestyle platforms in Malaysia. He is an all-round music enthusiast from the '90's R&B to K-Pop.