Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi returns today, announcing his fifth studio album Boo Boo, to be released on July 7 on Carpark Records. The album finds Chaz Bear (formerly Bundick) exploring the dance-pop sound that his fans first fell in love with, with an added layer of deep — and at times dark — emotion. Bear used the new songs to intimately address an identity crisis and created his most personal work to date.

Along with the news, Toro Y Moi has penned the below statement about the record and also released a video for the magnetic first single “Girl Like You.”

WATCH / SHARE: “GIRL LIKE YOU”

boo­boo [ˈbo͞obo͞o/]

noun (pl. boo­boos) informal

1. a mistake. “You could make a big boo­ boo if you leap to any drastic conclusions.”
2. a minor injury, such as a deadly car crash.

boo1 [bo͞o/]

exclamation

1. said suddenly to surprise someone. “‘Boo!’ she cried, jumping up to frighten him.”
2. said to show disapproval or contempt, especially at an athletic contest or musical performance.

noun

1. an utterance of “boo” to show disapproval or contempt. “The audience re­tweeted his comment with boos and hisses.”

verb

1. say “boo” to show disapproval or contempt. “They booed and hissed when he stepped on stage.”

boo2 [bo͞o/]

noun (pl. boos) informal

1. a person’s boyfriend or girlfriend

______________________________________________

After 7 years of touring and recording, I found myself becoming self conscious about my position in life as a “famous” person, or at least my version of whatever that is. My dreams had become my reality, yet I was somehow unable to accept this new environment. I couldn’t help but fall into what might be described as an identity crisis. A feedback loop of fearful thoughts left me feeling confused. I felt as though I no longer knew what it was that I actually wanted and needed in and out of life, and at times I felt unable to even tell what was real.

During this time of personal turmoil, I turned to music as a form of therapy, and it helped me cope with the pain that I was feeling. I’d listen to the same ambient song over and over again, trying to insulate myself from reality. I fell in love with space again.
By the time I felt ready to begin working on a new record, I knew that this idea of space within music would be something that propelled my new work forward. The artists that were influencing what I was making included everyone from Travis Scott to Daft Punk, Frank Ocean to Oneohtrix Point Never, Kashif and Gigi Masin. I recognized that the common thread between these artists was their attention to a feeling of space, or lack thereof. I decided that I wanted to make a Pop record with these ideas in mind. That idea for a record is what eventually became Boo Boo.

Toro Y Moi – Boo Boo

July 7, 2017 – Carpark Records

Pre-order: Carpark | iTunes | Apple Music

1. Mirage
2. No Show
3. Mona Lisa
4. Pavement
5. Don’t Try
6. Windows
7. Embarcadero
8. Girl Like You
9. You and I
10. Labyrinth
11. Inside My Head
12. W.I.W.W.T.W.

Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bear (formerly Bundick) has been actively involved in music going back to his early teenage years playing in punk and indie rock bands. Bear unveiled his Toro Y Moi guise in 2001, in which he began incorporating electronics and channeling a wider swath of stylistic influences – from indie rock and ’60s baroque pop to ’80s R&B, French house, and underground hip-hop – into his own solo music. By the time he graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2009 with a BA in graphic design, Bear had refined Toro Y Moi into a truly unique, captivating project, with numerous music magazines and blogs touting his hazy recordings as the sound of summer. His Carpark-released debut album, Causers of This, would follow in early 2010 and garnered high praise in many publications including NME and Pitchfork.

With each subsequent record, Bear revealed himself to be as prolific as diverse. From the space-age funk of 2011’s Underneath the Pine to the introspective, house-tinged pop and soul of 2013’s Anything in Return, to the ’70s radio gold influences percolating throughout 2015’s What For?, Bear consistently steered Toro y Moi in new directions while never sacrificing his melodic sensibility or keen ear for arrangements and texture. Although his most recent excursions – last year’s stunning concert film/album, Live from Trona (featuring an expanded line-up of Toro Y Moi’s touring group performing in the California desert), and his Star Stuff collaboration with jazz duo the Mattson 2 (just released in late March on Carpark sister label Company Records, which Bear runs) – were full-band affairs, his latest Toro Y Moi album is a much more personal outing.

Recorded and produced by Bear in Portland, Oregon, between March 2016 and March 2017, the spacious arrangements mirror the intimate, soft-hued pop of Boo Boo. Eschewing the traditional rock instrumentation of What For?, slow- pulsing neon synths and electronics are once again far more prevalent, with subtle ’80s influences finespun through his song craft. Throughout, Bear plays all of the instruments, with the exception of guest spots from Anthony Ferraro (a/k/a Astronauts, etc. and also Toro y Moi’s live keyboardist) and Madeline Kenney (Company Records recording artist). Toro y Moi’s most reflective album to date, the woozy contemplations and daydreams of Boo Boo point toward an idyllic path of catharsis for not only the listener, but for Chaz Bear himself.

toroymoi.com

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For more information on Toro Y Moi please contact Grandstand Media & Management:

Erin Thompson / erint@grandstandhq.com

Meghan Helsel / meghanh@grandstandhq.com

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