ANOTHER of Heavenly Records darlings, Toy release their second LP ‘Join the Dots’ as tickets for their headline slots in 2014 cause a stir.
The London five-piece formed their psychedelic-rock outfit in 2012, releasing their debut in the same year. Nominated in the Best New Band category at this year’s Q Awards, they have created a full-bodied sound that crashes rudely into your face in the form of album opener Conductor. It’s seven minutes of pure noise and distortion that sets the bar high for the proceeding beat-driven beasts.
You Won’t Be the Same picks up the doom and gloom that The Horrors dropped sometime back in 07. This though, with glimmers of light at times and trodding along nicely with the hypnotic rhythm that made I Can See Through You such a hit for The Horrors back in 2011.
Album title track Join the Dots is centrally Sonic Youth, post-rock, goth and a hefty slice of all three at eight minutes long. A heavy keys, riff and drum showdown opens up a piece of music that gets louder and more defiant as time goes on.
Then there’s tracks like To A Death Unknown which is as light as fluffy as Toy are going to get, but fluffy all the same. A softer vocal from Tom Dougall makes for a My Bloody Valentine inspired track, and nicely done too.
Joy Division shines right out of Left To Wander, leaving a creative beat and keys section that will be perfectly placed over black and white film, hopefully one day soon when they release this beauty as a single.
The peak comes at the end though, final track Fall Out of Love is ten minutes of intense rhythm, grit and grime. Juxtaposed against its central theme of love, the track shows Toy using synth waves and jilting guitars to create a roller coaster ending to a dark piece of art that is Join the Dots. The dots may be joined with their second release, but they are almost all over the place, and frankly that’s just how I like it.