There’s always been a psychedelic undercurrent to the work of Californian producer Toro Y Moi. The name is synonymous with chillwave and smooth, funky synth pop of all kinds. More than a decade ago he helped write the book on this sound, which a lot of young West Coast pop artists are now exploring with varying success. He’s since gone through several reinventions but the soft psychedelic sounds of MAHAL are still hitting for me in the way that only the breeziest of pop can.

MAHAL embraces the funky and psychedelic sounds of his 2015 album What For? and features cleanest and most ambitious production to date. Part of the charm of Toro Y Moi records has always been a super easygoing, effortless vibe with fuzzy but meticulous sound. In MAHAL there’s a new punchiness that cuts through the warmth. In some ways this recalls the very electronic 2019 Outer Peace. However on MAHAL the rich, 70s, Beach Boys sound is back in force to provide much needed balance. The especially focused instrumentation has bigger moments in the spotlight than ever before. This record is so relaxed it stops just shy of slacker as an adjective but the band, production and songwriting are nonetheless extremely tight.

That brings me to the excellent live record documenting this material. MAHAL Live was recorded at a large show/small camping fest Chaz has somewhat regularly organized in his native California. Chaz and the band play an especially groovy but not at all overwrought version of the album. Careful production is replaced by a group that’s really listening to each other to maintain a fantastic mix. The relatively straightforward material is delivered with real soul and respect as if it’s already a classic. The live album is a welcome supplement that pushes the full-band feeling of the studio record to the forefront.

These records are fantastic slabs of psychedelic pop and rnb that kind of distills the chillwave sound back to its retro pop inspirations. They’re humble but very carefully made and the end result is a really great vibe that’s easy on the ears. It sounds simple, but there’s a reason not everyone’s able to do it like Toro Y Moi.