Toro y Moi takes us on a 24-minute millennial chillwave vacation on his newest project, Soul Trash. Chaz Bear said it best himself: “reality’s tight if the music is right.” Soul Trash is a more experimental, transcendental rebuttal to his previous masterpiece, Outer Peace. The album is paired with a film of the same name, consisting of home-video clips of Chaz and his live performances as Toro y Moi, as well as notorious synth-pop visuals of blobs, squiggles, and blotches.
The new album is a breath of fresh air… Unlike Toro y Moi’s previous albums, the tracks on Soul Trash don’t stand apart from each other. Instead, it is intended to be listened to from start to finish, making for a more intentional and holistic listening experience.
The heavy bass lines and synth beats coincide perfectly with the project’s underlying themes of existential dread and the internet. Although more obvious on his last album, Chaz is no stranger to the anxieties that come with living in our post-modern world.
In the middle of the film, the music stops, and Chaz is shown wearing a bucket hat as he quietly sips a La Croix. Someone off screen laughs, “There’s a real existential crisis happening there.” He knows, and we know, of this collective ironic dread that comes with being young and aware right now. Chaz Bear’s complicated relationship to the internet is the new norm, except he’s making tight ass lo-fi beats to cope and I’m stealing face masks from the Urban Outfitters on Pacific.