Toys Unatic

Treasure Hunt/Toys Unatic
Label: Moon Glyph Records
Review by Carl M
Like no music I’ve ever heard, in the best way. This album presents sprawling, complex musical landscapes that conjure vivid images of dewy forests filled with anything you could possibly imagine. If you a) like Vangelis and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s arrangements for Flying Lotus, or b) are an alien, listen to this album (do it anyway if not).

Favorites: One Fungi, Too Dew, Fornicators, Six Is, Tendone

1. ****(4:46) One Fungi – Begins with harp and other strings in descending patterns. The strings produce shimmering ornamentation over the ebb and flow of a drone underneath. Innumerable layers of sound.
2. **(5:58) Too Dew – Panning effects of some sort of ambient noise for a period of time, with electric piano ornamentation, then melody in some sort of synth over many different vocal and musical layers. Acoustic guitar at the end.
3. **(8:20) Fornicators – Acoustic guitar playing minor chords, syncopated drum sounds in the background in a vague pattern with guitar. Endless variation of sounds over this, from strings to bird noises, from deep ambient noise to electronic tweets.
4. ****(5:42) Six Is – Deeply resonant guitar with vast reverb, vocals. Probably the most Vangelis-ey on the album. Great use of the acoustic space created by reverb, and extensive sampling.
5. (6:12) Ate Her – Some of the most bizarre harmonies I’ve ever heard (some brass instruments, some kind of flute and synths). Quiet drum sounds in the background noodling, and many electronic samples and string sounds.
6. *(12:58) Tendone – Synth sounds playing seemingly random streams of notes with organized musical cacophony, followed by a dense journey through many different soundscapes (electric piano noodling, water sound, bass/guitar/classical piano playing).