Stream Toro y Moi’s New Album Mahal

Toro y Moi’s new album rules. On Mahal, Chaz Bear shifts from the brisk, dance-tinged sound of 2019’s great Outer Peace in favor of a fuzzed-out yet chilled-out psych-pop feel. Even when it rocks, there’s a certain serenity about it. Even when it eases along, there’s such contagious momentum to this music.

Ever since dual lead singles “Postman” and “Magazine” dropped in January, I’ve been more excited for Mahal than any Toro release in a long time. Viewed negatively, that’s on me; I feel like I’ve been taking Bear’s steady quality for granted for years now. Viewed from a more positive angle, my enthusiasm has only been further stoked by subsequent singles “The Loop” and “Déjà Vu,” songs that play like best-case scenarios for a 2020s spin on ’60s and ’70s lysergic bliss.

The rest of Mahal lives up to the hype. It’s one of my favorite albums of 2022 so far. You can hear it now — more than 24 hours early — via an album-length visual by director Joe Cappa. Dig into the audio-visual experience below, and check back Thursday for a lengthy interview with Bear.

Mahal is out 4/29 on Dead Oceans. Pre-order it below.