‘Hole Erth’, Chaz Bear’s eighth full-length studio record as Toro y Moi, is the genre shapeshifter’s most unexpected and bold move to date, with Bear diving headlong into rap-rock, Soundcloud rap and Y2K emo. The album blitzes anthemic pop-punk next to autotuned, melancholic rap – two genres that inform one another now more than ever before – and packs in the most features ever on a Toro y Moi album. Features include Don Toliver, Benjamin Gibbard, Kevin Abstract, Poches, Kenny Mason, Duckwrth. Toro y Moi is also a celebrated collaborator across other artists’ releases, with guest features for Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Flume, Kenny Mason, Disclosure and many more. A sense of nostalgia sneaks its way into almost every Toro y Moi release, but angst is an emotion that Bear has never intentionally explored the way he does here. Tracks like ‘Tuesday’ channel a specific, yet forever-relatable sense of adolescent unease. A distorted guitar riff leads into a repeating chorus that conjures misunderstood teenagers singing aloud, maybe too loud, while riding bikes through American suburbs. This foreboding can also be heard on ‘HOV’, though not without poking some fun with lines like “Romance is so cold / My advice? To bring a coat.” Bear has the energy but is acutely aware that his energy isn’t forever. At a time when the internet is blending multiple genres into one at an increasingly rapid pace, Bear accomplishes the rare feat of keeping up with the contemporary alternative listener. Constantly changing, evolving and experimenting is the heart of Toro y Moi, and on ‘Hole Erth’ Bear challenges but also reclaims himself, embracing the myriad sounds and eras that formed him, while crashing new worlds together.

‘Hole Erth’ is available on Clear Blue Smoke coloured vinyl LP, black biovinyl LP with signed insert, and black biovinyl LP (without signed insert).