TOY, “Fast Silver”; “I’m Still Believing” (Heavenly)
Not one, but two, new tracks from the brilliant TOY released in the past few weeks – Christmas comes early! “Fast Slilver” (released last month) and “I’m Still Believing” (released this week) will each feature on the band’s forthcoming long-player, Clear Shot, with “Believing” serving as the first official single.
TOY established themselves at the forefront of a group of bands fusing psych and shoegaze with their self-titled debut and 2013’s Join the Dots, creating alarmingly beautiful songs bathed in layers of reverb and propelled by a crisp rhythmic churn. These new tracks suggest a bit of a blue-pencil job by the band on this sound – it’s cleaner; less pedal-driven. Each feature brisk, sharp stabs of wistful, sonically vivid psych-pop, reminiscent of bands like Soft Boys, The Dream Syndicate, Split Enz and The Chills. Both also even summon some 70s drivetime AM radio, with sweet three part harmonies and strummy guitar work (“Fast Silver”’s outro solo is Ventura highway worthy). Singer Tom Dougall (brother of thegrindinghalt resident muse, Rose Elinor Dougall) channels Robyn Hitchcock, singing of feeling “unreal” and “perfectly out of time”.
Clear Shot is due October 28, via Heavenly. On this evidence, it should be very good, indeed. Check out TOY on fbook, the twitt, and their website. The band also have some tour dates coming up in the UK and Europe – you can find those here.
