Toro y Moi - Hole Erth Review
The album is quite monotonous, with only a few stand-out tracks like Undercurrent, Off Road, and Starlink.
Toro y Moi. Bull and I. Chaz Bear. The genre shapeshifter returns with his eighth studio album, released via Dead Oceans, Hole Erth ー a daring foray into rap-rock. Following a slew of collabs with some of rap’s hottest names, it’s hardly surprising that the talented producer has dipped his toe into the genre. He’s brought some familiar faces with him too, with the likes of Don Toliver, Duckwrth, and Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract guest-starring across the record.
The album opens with ‘Walking in the Rain’, and if ever there was a song so aptly named, this would be it. Its catchy beat and autotuned ad libs paired with a thunderous soundscape evoke a moody feeling that pervades throughout. But ‘CD-R’ is the opposite. It feels nostalgic and adolescent in nature, even mourning ‘Blackberry days’ (ah, BBM) on a track where Soundcloud rap meets Frutiger Aero. While sleuthing Reddit I found that, thanks to the guys over on r/ToroYMoi, this track shares its name with an unreleased mixtape from 2007. Upon listening, I can confirm that the vibes are very much the same.
Speaking of vibes, there’s a clear sense of y2k emo throughout Hole Erth. ‘HOV’ introduces that with its shoegaze guitar riffs and almost biblical sounding outro, complete with barking dogs and an angelic orchestra. ‘Tuesday’ similarly sounds as if it was made for the Myspace generation. A certain brand of emo millennial will delight in the album’s first feature ‘Hollywood’, where Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie fame lends his voice. I must say, his contribution does feel a little shoehorned in. Remember in the noughties when every mainstream song ever had a rap feature? It’s kind of the antithesis of that ー though maybe that’s the point.
‘Reseda’ is a heavier track that leans more into the rock side, with verses from established artist Duckwrth as well as rising Carpark Records alumnus ー and Toro’s mentee ー Elijah Kessler. It’s around this point, as ‘Babydaddy’ begins to play, that I realise this album will go down a treat for fans $uicideboy$, Lil Peep, and similar artists. There’s enough melancholy to go round and sonically the album feels like a drug-addled descent into darkness.
More guest appearances. There are more collaborations on this record than you can shake a stick at. Don Toliver has two, on the first of which, ‘Madonna’, he lays down his smooth, pitch-corrected croons. “This ain’t a love song”, attests Toliver, but it’s hard not to listen to it as such. There’s plenty of car imagery, soundtracked with revving engines, so maybe it’s more about escape.
Right off the bat, you can hear Porches’ synth-pop influence on ‘Undercurrent’. Toliver’s back, too, on what I think is the best collab (and dare I say track) on the record. It hits that sweet spot between nostalgia-chasing and modern sonics. ‘Off Road’ and ‘Smoke’ are both moody tracks laced with grunge-infused hip-hop, making for excellent additions to the album. Strikingly, ‘Heaven’ offers a reprieve in the form of a love song about a once-in-a-lifetime connection. It’s almost romantic, in both lyrics and composition, and the subtle undercurrent of twinkling instrumentation pairs nicely with the beat.
We’ve arrived at the climax with ‘Starlink’, which takes its name from Elon Musk’s space satellite. Toro incorporates collaborator Glaive’s signature hyperpop sound on a trip-hop, DnB imbued ode to missed connections.
The album is quite monotonous, with only a few stand-out tracks like Undercurrent, Off Road, and Starlink. It might be too much of an experimental genre shift for long standing fans of Toro y Moi, but Hole Erth no doubt demonstrates his deft abilities as an artist and his obvious sensibilities for the hip-hop genre.